Beaver Falls, Serra pull upsets
Fans who were expecting to see the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the WPIAL Class 2A title game will instead see the No. 5 and No. 6 seeds in the championship Friday at Heinz Field.
Top-seeded Steel Valley and No. 2 seed Sto-Rox combined for 11 turnovers in Friday’s semifinals and saw their seasons come to an end.
Beaver Falls, the No. 5 seed, dominated Steel Valley, 21-8, in one semifinal held at Dormont Stadium.
The Tigers shut down Steel Valley’s high powered-offense, which was without senior tailback Nijhay Burt, the WPIAL rushing and scoring leader with 2,018 yards and 35 touchdowns. Burt fractured his ankle in the Ironmen’s quarterfinal win last week against South Side Beaver.
Beaver Falls opened the game with a 15-play, 65-yard drive that took 8:46 off the clock. Quarterback Jaren Brickner capped the drive witha 1-yard sneak.
Steel Valley’s Jesaean Wright fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Deshawn Richardson recovered at the Ironman 26. Seven plays later Quinton Adamson scored on a 1-yard dive and Beaver Falls had a 14-0 lead before Steel Valley even ran an offensive play.
The third of Steel Valley’s five turnovers led to Beaver Falls’ third touchdown. Mekhi Clark intercepted a pass by Ironman quarterback Cruce Brookins in the third quarter. Three plays later, Brickner scored on a 2-yard run. Brickner also connected with Quadir Thomas on a 34yard pass that set up the touchdown.
Beaver Falls almost scored a fourth touchdown in the final quarter, but Trey Singleton fumbled out of the end zone before crossing the goal line.
Steel Valley (11-1) scored on its final possession on a 1-yard runby Brookins.
It’s the ninth consecutive win for Beaver Falls (9-3), the defending WPIAL champion, which opened the season with three consecutive losses. The Tigers will face Serra Catholic at 5 p.m. Friday in the title game.
Other game
Serra Catholic 13, StoRox12: Max Rocco connected with Terrell Booth on a 43yard touchdown pass with 9:18 left to lead No. 6 Serra Catholic (13-1) to an upset of Sto-Rox(12-1).
Sto-Rox committed six turnovers in the game, four fumbles and two interceptions.
Serra’s first touchdown came in the first quarter after Sto-Rox fumbled a punt return at its own 3. Pharoh Fisher scored on the next play. Caden Bauer’s extra point ended up being the deciding point.
Sto-Rox scored early in the second quarter on a 32-yard pass from Josh Jenkins to Zay Davis, but the kick by Adam Orvine failed. Jenkins threw for 280 yards but was intercepted twice.
Jaymar Pearson gave StoRox its only lead of the game early in the fourth quarter on a 5-yard run. But the Vikings’ 2-point conversion pass failed.