Nov 10, 2017 3 min read

DORMONT – Sometimes statistics don’t always tell the full story.

That wasn’t the case for the Burgettstown High School football team Friday night.

There was no sugarcoating the 18-degree wind chill at kickoff.

There also wasn’t any way of putting a positive spin on the Blue Devils’ eight yards of total offense and three first downs the entire night.

Steel Valley, the No. 1 seed, dominated both lines of scrimmage as junior running back Kameron Williams ran for 222 yards and four touchdowns as the Ironmen defeated Burgettstown 42-0 in a WPIAL Class 2A quarterfinal game at Dormont Memorial Stadium.

“Hands down (Steel Valley) beat us soundly up front,” said Burgettstown head coach Mark Druga. “We knew they were going to stack the box coming in and we couldn’t run a lick on them. We could not move the ball, period.”

A consistent, confident offense was the least of the worries for Steel Valley (10-0), which churned out 306 of its 346 yards with a ground attack led by Williams and senior Trevon Adams.

Williams broke free and secured the ball on a sloppy exchange with freshman quarterback Ronnell Lawrence to score on a 47-yard touchdown to put Steel Valley up 7-0 with 2:24 remaining in the first quarter.

He went on to score two touchdowns on four-yard runs and a scamper of 25 yards to give Steel Valley a 28-0 halftime lead.

“We felt that (Burgettstown) would be concerned about us getting the edge on them so we pounded it inside,” said Steel Valley head coach Rod Steele. “We’re a physical football team. We like to play that physical style even though we have athletes. It keeps our opponents honest.”

Burgettstown (7-4) had several opportunities to gain momentum in the first half, including two possessions that began in Steel Valley territory.

The Blue Devils’ Austin Ryan intercepted a pass from his safety position at the Steel Valley 45-yard line but Burgettstown, even after a roughing-the-passer penalty, turned the ball over on downs.

Burgettstown returned a kickoff to the Steel Valley 47-yard line in the middle of the second quarter before losing two yards on four downs and turning the ball over.

“I told our assistant coaches that we probably weren’t going to get many better chances,” Druga said about opting to go for it on fourth-and-long both times. “Once we didn’t help out the defense, it started to give. That’s why you see the scoreboard the way it is.”

Adams balanced the running attack for the Ironmen with 75 yards on eight carries, but his biggest play of the night came when he decided to throw. Adams found Amonte Strothers behind the Blue Devils’ secondary for a 40-yard touchdown pass to put Steel Valley up 35-0 and invoke the mercy rule with 8:23 left in the third quarter.

Burgettstown had only 10 plays that went for positive yardage in the entire game.

“We felt that we could match up with them on the outside because the play from our (secondary),” Steele said. “It allowed us to do some things in the box. We wanted to take away their run game and our guys did a great job of executing that plan tonight.”

Steel Valley advances to the WPIAL semifinals to play Riverside, which defeated Avonworth 42-14.