Clairton runs winning streak to a WPIAL record 47 games in capturing third consecutive title
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Clairton's Tyler Boyd scores against Southern Columbia in the PIAA Class A championship Friday at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pa. -
Clairton's Dakota Halcomb takes a bite out of a large Hershey's bar after defeating Southern Columbia Friday in the PIAA Class A championship in Hershey, Pa.
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HERSHEY, Pa.-- Tom Nola retired as a history teacher in June. That did not mean he couldn't still make some history.
Six months after Nola taught his final history class, the Clairton High School football coach and his team put themselves in a spot where no team has been in WPIAL history.
Clairton won the PIAA Class A championship with a 35-19 victory against Southern Columbia at Hersheypark Stadium Friday. Not only did the win give Clairton its third consecutive PIAA title, it also stretched the Bears' winning streak to a record 47 games.
Clairton broke the WPIAL record for the longest winning streak. Braddock won 46 consecutive games in the 1950s.
It all made the usually low-keyed Nola a little emotional after the game.
"I can't tell you why," he said about the tears in his eyes. "It really is just overwhelming to be mentioned with those Braddock teams and coach [Chuck] Klausing."
Tyler Boyd overwhelmed Southern Columbia (14-2). A junior running back, Boyd had a few big plays that proved to be the difference against a Southern Columbia team that trailed by only 21-19 heading into the fourth quarter. Boyd finished with 218 yards rushing on 14 carries for a Clairton team that finished the season 16-0. The Bears' last loss was in the 2009 season opener.
Boyd scored on runs of 78 and 68 yards in the fourth quarter to break the Tigers' resolve. His 78-yarder was jaw dropping. Clairton ran an option play to the left and Boyd took the pitch from quarterback Capri Thompson. Seeing he had nowhere to run, Boyd stopped, ran all the way across the field to the right, took off downfield, ran across the field to the left and outraced defenders into the end zone with 5:54 left.
"He's one of the most athletic kids I've ever seen," said Jim Roth, Southern Columbia's longtime coach. "I don't know if I've ever seen anyone change direction that drastically before."
A little more than three minutes after the 78-yard score, Boyd took a handoff and burst through the middle on a 68-yard touchdown run with 2:21 left in the game.
Boyd also had a big play late in the first half to set up an important touchdown. After Southern Columbia sliced Clairton's lead to 14-12 on a 3-yard run by Matt Moore with 1:47 left in the half, Clairton took over at its own 36. A few plays later, Clairton tried a double pass. Thompson threw a backward pass to Boyd, who looked downfield for the second pass.
But no one was open, so Boyd took off and rambled 55 yards to the Southern Columbia 1. Reuben Kelley scored on the next play with 29 seconds left in the half.
Southern Columbia bottled up Boyd the rest of the game. Of his 218 yards, 201 were on three plays. He had 17 yards on 11 carries the rest of the way.
"I didn't want to get frustrated," Boyd said. "I knew as soon as everything started clicking and the line started rolling, I knew we were going to make some big plays."
Terrish Webb also made two big plays in the first half. He had touchdown catches of 88 and 65 yards from Thompson.
"Southern Columbia is good. They have some good players in their own right," Nola said. "It's just that we have some speed that they don't."
Southern Columbia, which uses a wing-T offense, had success running against a Clairton defense that is usually staunch against the run. Moore had 136 yards on 16 carries for Southern Columbia.
But Southern Columbia's passing game was destroyed by Clairton's pass rush. The Bears pressured quarterback Brad Fegley with regularity and Kelly had 3 1/2 sacks and Devante Gardlock 3.
With Clairton ahead, 27-19, the Bears' Tyus Booker fumbled the ball away at his own 36 with 5:06 left. But Clairton had two sacks on the next three plays to kill the threat.
"Our pass rush was phenomenal," Nola said.
After the game, a number Clairton's players waved three fingers to the crowd to signify their three consecutive titles. Was there a way they could hold up 47 fingers for the winning streak?
Clairton receiver-linebacker Trenton Coles had trouble celebrating because he was on crutches. A Pitt recruit, Coles sustained a right knee injury after he made an extra-point kick in the first half. A Southern Columbia player rolled into his leg after the kick.
Clairton lineman Carvan Thompson also was in tears after the game. They were tears of joy -- and sadness. Thompson, a senior, started a state-record 64 games in his career. He was a starter since the first game of his freshman year.
"I'm sad," Thompson said, "because these guys are all like my brothers and I'll never get to play with them again."
Boyd might have summed up things best.
"Now we can talk about the record all we want. It's unbeatable," Boyd said. "Words cannot explain how good we're feeling right now."
For sure, these are Bears that will go down in history.
CLASS AAA FINAL -- Archbishop Wood put on one of the most dominating performances in PIAA championship history when it defeated Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt, 52-0, in the Class AAA final Friday night at Hersheypark Stadium.
It was the biggest blowout in 24 seasons of PIAA championships and Archbishop Wood, a Philadelphia Catholic League school, won its 14th game in a row. The only loss of the season for Archbishop Wood (14-1) was to Central Catholic in the season opener.
First Published December 17, 2011 12:00 am
