Nov 13, 2015 4 min read

IMPERIAL – Many of the congratulatory phone calls South Fayette football coach Joe Rossi is sure to receive today will be from members of the coaching community who will want to know how his football team managed to stop the seemingly unstoppable Darius Wise, the do-everything junior quarterback from Beaver.

Wise came into Friday night’s WPIAL Class AA quarterfinal game at West Allegheny High School with more than 1,100 passing yards and 1,500 rushing yards. No other player in the WPIAL has matched that accomplishment this season.

When the final seconds ran out on this game, a 54-7 rout by South Fayette, Wise was on the sideline wondering how this could have happened.

The Lions administered a beating he could not have seen coming. South Fayette held Wise to 18 yards on 16 carries and just 5 of 9 passing for only 8 yards. Beaver had just 24 total yards.

This impressive victory extended South Fayette’s winning streak to 43 straight games and sends the Lions into the semifinals against Steel Valley, a 24-18 winner over Beaver Falls, at 7:30 p.m., Friday at a site to be determined. The Lions, who have not lost a game in three seasons, are 11-0.

Beaver, the third-place finisher in the Midwestern Athletic Conference, finished the season at 7-4.

“He’s a stud but our kids did a good job keeping him in front of them,” Rossi said of Wise. “We bottled him up. He’s special. He’s a Division-I kid for sure. We felt good with our front eight. We played man. They shook a few free but that’s the chance you take.”

The Lions set the tone on the first play, chasing Wise out of pocket and tackling him in the end zone for a safety and a 2-0 lead 19 seconds into the game.

Then they unleashed Hunter Hayes, and the 6-1, 195-pound senior began shredding the Beaver defense. Hayes gained 216 yards on 24 carries and scored on runs of 15, 10 and 49 yards, the last two spearheading a 28-point third quarter that turned the game into a rout.

“We just adjusted to what they were giving us (in the third quarter),” Hayes said. “They were giving us a lot of lanes and my offensive line did an awesome job opening up holes all across the field. We just picked each other up.”

South Fayette did a little bit of everything on offense. Quarterback Drew Saxton rebounded from a slow start to throw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Ryhan Culberson in that third-quarter scoring spree and finished the game 7 of 15 for 131 yards.

South Fayette’s Mike Speca burned the overmatched Beaver defense from the Wildcat formation. He ripped off runs of 12, 13, 5, 31 and 34 yards. He finished with 95 yards on those five carries and the 31-yarder went for a touchdown.

Geovonie Love added the last of four third quarter touchdowns when he plowed over from the 1. Will Allen added a score in the fourth quarter and Dan Trimbur kicked a 27-yard field goal that gave the Lions a 19-7 lead at halftime.

Wise did make his presence felt in the first half, ripping the ball from Hayes on a South Fayette run and returning it 87 yards for Beaver’s lone touchdown.

“South Fayette’s front six or seven tried to put us and (Wise) in uncomfortable situations,” said Beaver head coach Jeff Beltz. “That group is special for them, and that’s why they win football games.”

Wise had some bad luck in the game, especially when Tyler Wallace got behind the Lions’ second but dropped a sure touchdown pass about three minutes before halftime. Other than that, the Lions controlled the line of scrimmage and the game.

“We’re fast and get to the ball,” said Rossi of the defense. “We have another great challenge next week, and another great running back. They are all good teams at this point.”