With his team huddled around, just minutes after hanging on for a 14-7 WPIAL Class A semifinal win over North Catholic, Rochester coach Gene Matsook's first words were one of the most oft-used clichés in sports ... and perhaps one of the truest.

"Defense wins championships," Matsook told his team.

The defensive display Rochester put on Friday night will guarantee that the Rams will at least play for a championship. The top-seeded Rams are 12-0 and headed to Heinz Field to play Clairton for the WPIAL Class A title Friday at 10:30 a.m.

On the Class A level with limited numbers, usually most of a team's offensive players are also playing defense. For Rochester in the semifinals, its two offensive stars of the game, Trey Johnson and Terry Gettings, also ended up being their defensive stars.

Johnson, regarded around Class A as a premier running back, came as advertised with a 104-yard performance. But Johnson may have saved his best play for the defensive side. After watching the Trojans mount a drive into the Rochester red zone, Johnson, defending in the end zone, picked off a deflected pass to thwart North Catholic and preserve a 14-7 lead.

After the Johnson interception, the Rams quickly went three and out. Matsook was faced with a decision on fourth and inches to go for it from his own 29 but he decided to punt.

"As much as I didn't want to give them the ball back, I didn't want to shorten the field for them either," Matsook said.

North Catholic promptly drove the ball down the field again inside the Rochester red zone. The defense would have to stand tall again and this time it was Gettings making a big play.

Earlier in the game, Gettings scored the game-changing touchdown on a 65-yard touchdown pass from Jasson Adamson in the third quarter. That third-down scoring play was originally supposed to be a screen to the right, but the Trojans read it and defended it.

Instead, Adamson kept the play alive scrambling in the backfield before finding a wide open Gettings in the middle of the field. Gettings raced the rest of the way to reclaim the lead for the Rams. The momentum was squarely on the North Catholic sideline before that play.

Gettings made his key defensive play 14 minutes after scoring the touchdown. Gettings would haul Martin Long down on a fourth and goal play to seal the win for the Rams.

"They're a potent offense," Matsook said of North Catholic. "We're not going to blow out everyone. To hold them to seven points ... that's a tribute to our guys."

The only team in the WPIAL who can boast a better defense statistically than Rochester now awaits the Rams at Heinz Field.

The Rams held opponents to 4.8 points per game while the Bears were even stingier, allowing 3.2 points per game. The Bears eliminated Rochester last season, 16-0, in the semifinals and it was the Bears in 2006 defeating Rochester, 16-13, at Heinz Field in the Rams' last trip there.

Missing out on the WPIAL title for two years is hardly considered a drought but for a Rochester program that opened the decade with three consecutive WPIAL Class A titles and had won five in seven years from 1998-2004, it seems like an eternity.

Rochester came up with answers throughout the season in big games. But Friday night after the victory against North Catholic, the Rams came up with their easiest answer of the season when Matsook shouted to his huddled team, "Guess where we're going?"

"Heinz Field," the players responded instantly.

"We survived another week," Matsook said. "We made some mistakes but at this stage, it's win and survive.

• WPIAL Class A championship: Clairton (11-1) vs. Rochester (12-0), 10:30 a.m.

• Where: Heinz Field.

• TV: FSN Pittsburgh.

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