Bears defeat Sto-Rox, 41-19, in Class A final
Brendan Parsons threw four touchdown passes Saturday to lead Clairton to a 41-19 victory over Sto-Rox in the WPIAL Class A Championship at Heinz Field.
Parsons completed 8-of-14 pass attempts with no interceptions and ran for 94 yards on 20 carries as the Bears advance to the PIAA playoffs with an 11-2 record. Sto-Rox ends with an 11-2 record.
Keinlein Ogletree was Parsons’ favorite target with three catches for touchdowns of 22, 17 and 69 yards. Ogletree scored the only points of the first quarter and the first touchdown of second quarter at 11:27.
Dontae Sanders returned an interception 69 yards about a minute later to push the Bears’ lead to 21-0 after Ogletree’s extra point. Sanders also scored on a 35-yard run later in the quarter.
Eric Wilson’s second touchdown pass of the game, a 70-yarder to Amhad Pack, cut the Clairton lead to 28-13 at 7:49 of the third quarter, but the Bears responded two minutes later with Parsons’ 42-yard touchdown pass to Wayne Wade III.
Ogletree and Parsons capped the scoring for the Bears at 7:01 of the fourth quarter with a 69-yard touchdown pass.
Wilson tossed his third touchdown pass, a 13-yard completion to Pack, to close the scoring with just under two minutes to go.
Pack completed 12-of-41 passes for 266 yards, but was intercepted by Dontae and Jonte Sanders and Isaiah Berry.
Central Valley 13, Aliquippa 12, OT — Central Valley scored first in the overtime period and then the Warriors defense stopped an Aliquippa 2-point conversion to capture the WPIAL Class AAA Championship at Heinz Field.
Central Valley’s Michael Barbuto scored on a 10-yard run in the overtime period and Ethan Ott converted the only successful point-after in the game for the seven-point lead.
Isaiah Towler found a lane through the left side of the defense to draw Aliquippa (11-2) to 13-12. The Quips opted for the two-point conversion, but the run attempt was swallowed up three yards short of the goal.
Central Valley’s first attempt to score in the game fell short when a 32-yard field goal attempt was blocked.
The Quips made the most of the defensive effort with a 15-play, 64-yard scoring drive capped by Solomon Chinua’s 12-yard scoring pass from Isaiah Towler.
The score remained 6-0 until the fourth quarter when Central Valley’s Ameer Dudley found Jaylen Guy open for an 8-yard touchdown pass with 9:54 remaining in the game.
Vernon Redd ran for 92 yards on 20 attempts and Towler 70 on 11 attempts for the Quips. Chinua caught four passes for 46 yards.
Guy led Central Valley (12-1) with 104 yards rushing on 19 attempts. Myles Walker had three receptions for 32 yards.
Class AAAAA semifinals
Gateway 14, McKeesport 7 — The Gators rallied in the third quarter on a pair of Bryson Venanzio touchdown passes Friday night to advance to the WPIAL Class AAAAA Championship at Norwin on Saturday.
Venanzio’s 27-yard touchdown pass to Sonny Comunale tied the game, and his 11-yard scoring strike to Tui Faumuina-Brown gave the Gators (11-2) its only lead of the game. Venanzio completed 10-of-15 passes for 145 yards.
Deamontae Diggs scored on a 1-yard run in the second quarter to give the Tigers (9-4) the halftime lead. Diggs finished with 113 yards rushing.
Peters Twp. 28, Penn-Trafford 10 — Peters Twp. scored all of its points in the second half to advance to the WPIAL Class AAAAA final against Gateway.
Peters Twp. (12-0) scored 21 unanswered points in the second half. Ryan Magiske accounted for the two touchdowns in the third quarter on a 3-yard run and 43-yard fumble return.
Logan Pfeuffer found Aidan McCall open for a 29-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. Pfeuffer completed 10-of-17 passes for 110 yards.
Ethan Carr caught a Gabe Dunlap pass for a 13-yard touchdown for Penn-Trafford (11-2) to cut the deficit to 21-10 in the fourth quarter, but McCall dashed any hopes of a comeback with a 31-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Dunlap completed 11-of-24 passes for 161 yards. Carr was his favorite target with nine receptions for 124 yards.
Penn-Trafford’s Nathan Schlessinger hit a 32-yard field goal in the first quarter for the only points of the first half.
Class AA semifinals
Avonworth 41, Riverside 14 — The Antelopes powered their way into the WPIAL Class AA Championship with 28 second-half points against the Panthers.
Jax Miller was a one-man wrecking crew for Avonworth (13-0) with touchdown runs of 39 and 51 yards in the first half, and 12 and 70 yards in the second half. He gained 256 yards on the ground.
Andrew Tedesco’s 27-yard interception return increased the Antelopes’ lead to 27-0 after three quarters. Park Penrod’s 10-yard pass to Trevor Faulkner in the fourth quarter closed the scoring for Avonworth.
The Panthers (8-4) scored on Ben Hughes’ 24-yard pass to Josh Bishop and Calvin Hughes’ 3-yard run in the fourth quarter. Hughes completed 11-of-22 passes for 175 yards. Bishop caught five passes for 140 yards.
Washington 20, Brentwood 14 — Zahmere Robinson’s 5-yard scoring run in the third quarter provided the difference to carry the Prexies into the WPIAL Class AA Championship.
Washington improves to 13-0, while the Spartans close the season at 10-3.
Zack Swartz gave the Prexies a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on scoring runs of 1 and 11 yards. He also completed a 2-point pass to Tayshawn Levy. Swartz completed 9-of-19 passes for 118 yards.
Brentwood tied the game in the third quarter on John Milcic’s 22-yard touchdown pass to Eddie Gomez and a 3-yard scoring run.
Milcic completed 12-of-16 passes for 175 yards. Aiden Wardzinski caught six passes for 137 yards.