Rich Bowen knows what it takes to win a WPIAL title. He quarterbacked Serra Catholic to a Class A title in 1981. Now he's the Eagles' head coach and one win away from another title.

"You win championships with defense and a good running game," said Bowen, after watching his Eagles record their fourth consecutive shutout with a 28-0 win against Monessen last night in the WPIAL Class A semifinal against Monessen at Belle Vernon's James Weir Stadium.

Serra held Monessen's potent running game to 57 yards on 25 carries, while the Eagles' offense accumulated 319 yards on 44 carries.

"The game plan was to wear down their defense with our running game," Bowen said. "And our defense forced them out of their game plan. We couldn't have asked for a better scenario."

But Serra's offense started slow, as the Eagles failed to score until midway through the second quarter. The Eagles drove 52 yards on four plays with the help of two Monessen offside penalties and scored with 6:23 left in the half. Tailback Chris Loving capped the drive with a 10-yard run on a sweep to the left.

"Andy had a good game plan that shut us down in the first half," said Bowen, referring to Monessen coach Andy Pacak. "We found a couple things that worked late in the first half and stuck with them."

Monessen had its best scoring chance late in the second quarter. The Greyhounds used a 50-yard run by David Jeffries to drive from their own 32 to the Serra 6, but a third-down pass by Adam Caputo was intercepted by Loving and returned 13 yards.

Serra increased its lead to 14-0 on its second possession of the second half. Monessen punted from its end zone, and Loving returned it 12 yards to the Greyhounds' 25. Quarterback T.J. Heatherington scored three plays later on a 20-yard run.

The Eagles scored twice more in the second half to cap the scoring. Isaiah Jackson ran 26 yards for a score with 1:01 left in the third quarter, then Heatherington scored on a 48-yard scamper with 2:23 left in the game.

Caputo completed 6 of 26 passes for 114 yards, but the Monessen quarterback was intercepted twice.

The victory, coupled with Springdale's 22-21 upset of top-seeded Clairton, leaves Serra (12-0) as the only unbeaten team in Class A. Monessen ended its season with an 10-1 record. The Eagles will face Springdale in the championship Friday at Heinz Field.