By Todd Hummel
For The Daily Item
HERSHEY -- The Southern Columbia defense dominated the third quarter of Friday's PIAA Class A championship game, limiting Clairton to no first downs and just five yards of total offense.
However, two things were keeping the Tigers on edge: their inability to protect against a fierce Bears' pass rush and the fact the Clairton was always one snap away from scoring.
In the end, both of those things came back to haunt Southern Columbia and cost them an unprecedented seventh state title.
The Bears had six quarterback sacks (five in the second half), and Tyler Boyd ripped off two long fourth-quarter touchdown runs to break open a two-point game as Clairton claimed its third consecutive PIAA title with a 35-19 victory over Southern Columbia at HersheyPark Stadium.
"You expect to have some (big plays), but there were too many to overcome … We had too many issues handling their quickness up front," Southern Columbia coach Jim Roth said. "That's what you're dealing with when a team has so much speed. You have to control the line and you can't give them too much space and we gave them too much space too often."
Clairton finished the season at 16-0 and now owns the longest active winning streak in the United States. The Bears have won 47 games in a row, passing Don Bosco Prep (N.J.), which finished its season with a 46-game streak. If the Bears get to 13-0 next season, they would break the Pennsylvania record of 59 set by Central Bucks West from 1997-2000.
Southern Columbia finished the season at 14-2.
A lot to be proud of
"The seniors have a lot to be proud of. We were missing something the past couple of years that didn't allow us to get to this point. They made the difference in terms of their level of play and more than that, I think, their attitude overall," Roth said. "Obviously, it's a devastating loss for them, but it was against a team that was very talented. I was proud of the way we played. We matched (Clairton's) level of play."
The game between the two preeminent Class A programs in the state didn't disappoint as both teams' excelled at what got them to Hershey. The Tigers tried to control the ball and the Bears' hit big play after big play. Southern Columbia's three scoring drives consumed 6 minutes, 17 seconds, 3:10 and 4:36. Clairton's five scoring drives lasted less than 4 minutes in total (3:57).
Friday's state final played out almost exactly like the Tigers' wins over Old Forge and Pius X earlier in the PIAA playoffs. Southern struggled with its pass defense early, shored it up in the second half and wore down both the Blue Devils and Royals. The same thing happened against Clairton with the major differences between the two Southern wins and Friday's loss were Boyd and the Clairton's pass rush.
Twice the Tigers were on the verge of seizing momentum in the game and twice Boyd ripped it back with long runs.
Matt Moore capped an 80-yard Southern Columbia drive with a 3-yard TD run to pull within 14-12 with 1:47 left in the first half and the Tigers to get the ball to start the second half. However the 107 seconds proved to be too much time as Boyd, who was held to just 13 yards on six carries to that point, broke a 55-yard run on a second-and-14 play down to the Tigers' 1.
Boyd took a lateral to the left side of the field, seemingly prepared to throw a halfback pass, but was hemmed in on the sideline. With one cut and a reversal of field, he bolted down the right sideline and dove for the pylon, ruled out at the 1. Rueben Kelley scored a play later to send the Bears into halftime with a 21-12 lead.
"At halftime, we thought we had a pretty good feel of things if we could just pick up our play in the secondary," Roth said. "Ironically, we played better in the secondary in the second half, but then we couldn't produce enough offense and they hit some big plays with backs reversing their fields."
One more time
After Moore cut the lead to two again at 21-19 on the final play of the third with a 5-yard TD pass from Brad Fegley, Boyd cut the heart out of the Tigers once again. This time, in a carbon copy of his first spectacular run, Boyd again was hemmed in along the left sideline before reversing field for a 78-yard TD run to make the score 27-19 with 5:54 left in the game.
"We had him defended him very well. You can't give him room," Roth said. "It was like a punt return with a wall is what that turned into. It started with a pitch and we had it defended."
Boyd then salted the game away with a 68-yard burst up the middle for the final score of the game. He finished with 218 yards on 14 carries, three of which produced 201 yards.
"I thought we had him wrapped up a couple of times and he just cut across the field," said Fegley, who also plays outside linebacker. "(Boyd) was fast. He's a great player."
With the Tigers always within one score in the fourth until Boyd's final TD run with 2:21 left, Southern tried time and again to get its passing game going, but the Clairton rush prevented it. Fegley had minus-40 yards rushing with the sack yardage. Devante Gardlock had 3.5 sacks, while Kelley added three for the Bears.
Hanging close
The game was back and forth at the start. Clairton took the opening kickoff and put together its longest drive, taking 6:01 off the clock, before turning over the ball on downs at the Tigers' 36.
Southern was forced to punt on a three-and-out and appeared to get a leg up in the field position battle when Jake Becker pinned Clairton at its 12. But Capri Thompson found a streaking Terrish Webb for an 88-yard scoring pass and an 8-0 lead after the 2-point conversion.
The teams traded punts until the Tigers scored on a 13-play, 67-yard drive that included two fourth-down conversions. Tyler Levan scored from 5 yards out on fourth-and-1 to cut the lead to 8-6; Levan was stopped on the 2-point conversion.
The Bears took the momentum back on their next possession. Fegley sacked Thompson on first down, forcing a fumble that Clairton recovered. Then Thompson and Webb hooked up again, this for 65 yards and a 14-6 lead with 4:57 left in the half. The Tigers answered with a nine-play, 80-yard drive capped by Moore's 3-yard run which cut the lead to 14-12.
