Unbeaten Fort Cherry soars past Rockets
Mark Marietta
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Fort Cherry quarterback Matt Sieg (3) springs past a block from Braydon Cook (15) and spints to the end zone to open the scoring Friday against Jefferson-Morgan.
Mark Marietta
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Fort Cherry’s Bradon Cook races down the sideline after catching a Matt Sieg pass and completes a 53-yard play for Fort Cherry’s second touchdown of the night.
Mark Marietta
Jefferson-Morgan quarterback Houston Guesman (2) sizes up Fort Cherry’s Shane Cornali (14) as he advances on a keeper for a first down at midfield.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Jefferson-Morgan's Houston Guessman (2) beats the last Ranger defender, Zach Serafin (2), and runs 30 yards to the goal line for the Rockets' first-quarter touchdown.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Fort Cherry running back Ethan Faletto (12) dives into the end zone.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Fort Cherry's Brayden Kirby (59) congratulates his teammate Nathan Heirendt (21) for scoring the Fort Cherry's fourth touchdown in the first half of the WPIAL Class A playoff game against Jefferson-Morgan at Jim Garry Stadium.
McDONALD – The magic carpet ride that is Fort Cherry’s 2023 football season has continued into the postseason.
Fort Cherry took care of Jefferson Morgan, 50-16, at home Friday to improve to 11-0.
For Fort Cherry coach Tanner Garry, running the ball, as usual, was key.
“We definitely pride ourselves on the run game,” Garry said. “It’s something that we’ve tried to do all year, so we ran the ball effectively tonight. We have a very, very physical group up front. Senior-heavy group that have been playing altogether for three years. So they lead us. We had a handful of backs that were able to have some success running the ball tonight, too. So, yeah, it was a good night.”
FC’s super sophomore quarterback Matt Sieg did his thing. In one half, Sieg went 5-for-7 for 107 yards and two touchdown passes.
He also rushed for 65 yards on seven carries.
Sieg only played one half, leaving the game with an injury. But Garry confirmed that he was held out mainly out of caution.
“We know what he’s capable of,” Garry said. “We were doing some good things with some other people, too, so we were kind of up a decent amount at half, and kind of thought it wasn’t worth the risk continuing on. We have some football left to play, and we had some guys that were able to get some looks in that second half, too. So Matt is able to do what he does, and we know that, so, we just kind of have to keep it going.”
Fort Cherry scored early, with its opening drive lasting 1:07 and ending with a four-yard Sieg touchdown run. FC struck again on its next drive, with Dieg hitting Braydon Cook for a 50-yard score.
But Jefferson-Morgan (6-5) wouldn’t go quietly. The Rockets scored on a 27-yard QB keeper by Houston Guesman, and converted the two-point try to make it 18-8 near the end of the first quarter. That’s how it stayed through the end of the period.
Early in the second quarter, Fort Cherry pushed the lead back to two scores on a four-yard run by Ethan Faletto. The Rangers pushed the lead further on the next drive, which ended on a four-yard run by Nathan Heirendt.
FC virtually put the game to bed when Sieg hit Nik Massey for a 39-yard score with 23 seconds left in the half.
Despite the ending, Jefferson-Morgan coach Shane Ziants feels the season was a success.
“It was the first time we were in the playoffs in 11 years,” Ziants said.” We scored more points than we had in 11 years. So we have things to build on.”
As for Fort Cherry, the Rangers will play the winner of No. 7 Cornell and No. 10 Rochester.
Five seasons ago, Fort Cherry went winless.
Things are different now, and Garry attributes that to the work of players such as the senior class, who played their last home game Friday.
“I really feel like our community has come together in a huge way. I think that they’ve just been coming out in massive numbers to support us. It’s very reminiscent of the times of me being up here as a kid.
“These fences were just absolutely packed, and it’s similar to that. I think that with the community support, and, especially, the seniors. Those kids were the ones that were freshmen when we first got hired, so they have seen four years of kind of the way we want to do things. They’re just such a special group. Every single one of them are leaders in their own way and have really done a great job of showing the underclassmen the way we do things and how things are going to be left once they’re done.”