Sophomore Sieg piling up stats and lots of attention nationwide
For a high school sophomore football player, it has been a pretty darn good two weeks for Fort Cherry’s Matt Sieg.
There was a scholarship offer from Penn State two weekends ago, and then came offers from Pitt and Nebraska earlier this week. Sandwiched between those offers was a monster game against Bishop Canevin in which Sieg, a quarterback-defensive back, had a “Sieg-nature” game, accounting for seven touchdowns and 449 yards offense. A 48-41 victory vaulted Fort Cherry to the No. 1 ranking in WPIAL Class 1A.
But as good as the present is, Sieg’s future could be really something special. You’re looking at a kid who is well on his way to possibly having one of the greatest careers of any high school football player in Pennsylvania history. Not to put pressure on him or anything.
There will likely be lots more scholarship offers from major colleges. How it often goes in recruiting is when a couple biggies offer, others jump in an offer. But never mind what level of colleges will recruit Sieg. It’s what Sieg can potentially do on the field that could put him among an elite class.
Only one player in the history of Pennsylvania high school football has thrown for 4,000 yards and run for 4,000 yards in a career. Barring injury, Sieg has a realistic shot at being the next. Seriously.
Terrelle Pryor, the legendary former Jeannette player, finished his career in 2007 with 4,238 yards rushing and 4,340 yards passing. Now get this: Sieg is already almost three-fourths of the way to 4,000 rushing yards and almost halfway to 4,000 yards passing. And he has four regular season games and playoffs still left in his sophomore year.
That’s special.
Sieg, who goes 6-foot-1, 170 pounds, now has 2,733 career yards rushing on 235 carries, good for a whopping 11.6 yards a carry. Maybe those numbers shouldn’t be a surprise when you consider Sieg ran a 4.42 in the 40-yard dash at Penn State’s camp this summer. He also has thrown for 1,945 yards (118 of 206 completions), bringing loads of attention to the small school in McDonald.
A year ago, Sieg became the first WPIAL freshman to run and pass for 1,000 yards in the regular season. With four regular-season games left this year, he is close to a sure bet to become only the second player in WPIAL history to run and pass for 1,000 yards in the regular season. That’s special.
Sure, you can say Sieg is ringing up these statistics against Class 1A competition and wouldn’t do the same at the 5A or 6A level. But no other small-school player has ever put together statistics like this by midway through his sophomore year. So give Sieg his props. Besides, the only other WPIAL player to have two 1,000 and 1,000 regular seasons now catches passes from Patrick Mahomes. That would be Shady Side Academy graduate Skyy Moore.
Just don’t expect the softspoken and humble Sieg to pat himself on the back.
“I don’t really think about those [statistics],” Sieg said. “I try to take it day by day. Obviously, there are goals, and I work to get them. But as a team, we just want to win a WPIAL championship for Fort Cherry. That’s our main priority.”
That has never been done. But there is much more to Sieg that makes his story interesting. He is a four-sport athlete. His “worst” sport is basketball, where he averaged 8.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.6 steals and 2.8 assists as a freshman for a playoff team.
In track, he set the school record in the 100-meter dash and played shortstop and second base on the baseball team. A hamstring injury prevented him from competing in the WPIAL track championships and also forced him to miss baseball games. And on top of the sports, he has a 4.0 gradepoint average.
With the scholarship offers now in football, you might think Sieg is settled on football being his career sport. Not so fast. He is considered a top-notch baseball player. He played for the Pittsburgh Outlaws travel team this summer and played in various high-level events around the country.
“For sure, I’m still open about baseball,” he said.
The football offers will be hard to turn down. And if he does play college football, where will he play, and what position will he play?
“They’re just telling me right now I’m an athlete,” Sieg said.
His speed and quickness are unquestioned. He’s not real tall, and how he develops as a passer during the next few years will be interesting to watch. If he chooses to play college football, he could be a defensive back or even a receiver.
As far as recruiting, will it be an old-fashioned battle between Pitt and Penn State one day? Sieg has ties to both.
“Obviously, there’s a little rivalry between those two, and not many people like both,” Sieg said. “But my dad coached two Pitt players [Chris Jacobson and Myles Caragein] when he was an assistant at Keystone Oaks, and they were there. So we had season tickets to Pitt when I was little. But Penn State, a lot of my family lives up that way. The house where my dad grew up, he could see Beaver Stadium.”
It might be fun to watch Sieg’s recruitment the next few years and interesting to see what sport he eventually chooses. But let’s also enjoy what Sieg might do on a high school field for the next 2½ years.
It could be special.