Fort Cherry reaches Class A final
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-ReporterMatt Sieg seals the win for Fort Cherry with a 15-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-ReporterFort Cherry’s Matt Sieg races 21 yards through the rain to plant the ball just inside the pylon to put the Rangers up 26-21 in the fourth quarter of the WPIAL playoff game against Bishop Canevin.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-ReporterFort Cherry wide receiver Brayden Cook pulls in a Matt Sieg pass that took the Rangers to the Bishop Canevin seven-yard line, setting up the score early in the second quarter.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-ReporterFort Cherry quarterback Matt Sieg (3) reaches for the goal line and scores a touchdown that tied the WPIAL Class A semifinal game against Bishop Canevin in the first half Friday night at South Fayette.
By Joe Smeltzer
For the Observer-Reporter
newsroom@observer-reporter.com
McDONALD – Fort Cherry’s 2023 season has been a magic carpet ride.
The Rangers won their first 12 games, playing themselves into the WPIAL semifinals against three-time defending champion Bishop Canevin.
Through three quarters Friday night in the WPIAL Class A semifinals, Fort Cherry trailed Canevin, 21-14.
To keep the magic ride going, the Rangers needed to have their signature quarter of the season.
That’s what they did, and super sophomore quarterback Matt Sieg led the way.
A 12-yard run with 10:47 left made it 21-20.
A 21-yard run with 4:34 left put Fort Cherry ahead, 26-21.
A 15-yard run with 4:21 left iced the game.
Sieg ended the night with five rushing touchdowns, and, yeah, he was pretty happy about the 33-21 win at South Fayette High School that sent Fort Cherry (13-0) to its first WPIAL title game since 2001.
“I can’t even describe it,” Sieg said. “We played a bad first half. There’s no denying it. We played terrible in the first half. We still (had to) come back in the second half, we had to come out and fight, and we handled adversity.”
Fort Cherry coach Tanner Garry knew his team didn’t play its best in the first half, trailing 14-7.
He also knew his team was still in the game.
“There’s been games where we didn’t start out the way we wanted to,” Garry said. “We went into the locker room at halftime, and we were preaching the fact that ‘you didn’t play a good half of football, and you’re in the game still. Against a good team.’ So we made some adjustments, we did some things we had to do and then Matt being special, you know, man. He just shows up in the right times. It always seems to happen. There’s dude’s around him that have made him look great all year. He is a great player, but he is a “team-first” kind of guy, he’ll be the first one to tell you.”
Canevin scored first on a two-yard run by Marquis Carter. Fort Cherry answered. A 43-yard pass from Sieg to Braydon Cook set Fort Cherry up at the Canevin 7-yard line. On second-and-goal from the six, Sieg ran it in, and the extra point tied the game.
The team’s remained tied until the last play of the first half. Canevin quarterback Kole Olszewski found receiver Jason Cross for a 42-yard score as time expired.
Fort Cherry tied the game in the second half on a 1-yard rush by Sieg. Canevin then retook the lead on a 40-yard pass from Olszewski to Jayden Lindsey. Fort Cherry answered again on a 12-yard run by Sieg, which was preceded by another big pass from him to Cook, this one from 33 yards. After an offside penalty, Garry decided to go for two.
The conversion attempt failed.
But Sieg took over from there, and after the game, he was still speechless by what his team accomplished.
“I don’t even have words yet,” Sieg said. “It’s so special right now, I mean, I’m just trying to take in as much as I can. I want to remember this game for the rest of my life.”
That won’t be a problem.
Garry knows his team still has work to do before playing South Side Beaver in next Friday’s title game at Acrisure Stadium.
But the third-generation Fort Cherry coach will take some time to smell the roses.
Sieg also knows the journey isn’t over, and his team will have to fight again to wina WPIAL title.
“That’s what football’s about,” he said. “That’s what life’s about. And we’re not done.”