CLARION — The third time was, in fact, the charm for the Port Allegany Gators.
Playing in the PIAA Class 1A semifinals for the third time in program history, the Gators broke through and will now play for a state championship after a dominating 46-8 over WPIAL champion Fort Cherry.
“The amount of people that I’ve heard of from the 2012 team, from the 20222 team, other coaches that worked with us, people that were there…” said Port Allegany coach Justin Bienkowski said. “You know, we talked about the six letters across our chest all the time. Everybody’s working towards a common goal. And when you get the whole community to work towards a common goal, this is what happens.”
Gator running back Aiden Bliss continued to make history. Not only did his even 300 yards (on 36 carries) and five touchdowns power the Gators once again, but it was a performance that put him in the record books as just the 11th player in Pennsylvania history to rush for 3,000 yards in a season (he needed 120 yards coming in).
“I think this sunk in a long time ago dreaming of it,” Bliss said. “We’ve put so many hours into it and so many long nights, time in the weight room, getting after each other. I think we were very ready for this feeling.”
The Gators’ defense also turned in their best performance on defense when it mattered the most. They forced four turnovers, including two interceptions by Kelvin Burgess, and shut down Fort Cherry quarterback Matt Sieg. The Gators limited the junior 4-star recruit (as a safety) and Penn State commit to just 5-of-18 passing for 65 yards and two interceptions and 14 carries for 28 yards.
“I’d be an idiot if I didn’t say our number one priority was to make sure number 3 (Sieg) was in our sight,” Bienkowski said. “But we talked about being able to tackle, which we did for the most part. We talked about being turnover free for the most part, and we got turnovers on our defense. We’ve been here three times and failed two other times. This is surreal.”
The script played out like so many of the Gators’ (14-0) games this season — they got good starting field position and turned it into points.
Bliss converted first downs on 4th-and-1 and 4th-and-3 on the drive and his longest run of the opening series, a 13-yarder, got Port Allegany in the end zone at the 5:07 mark of the first quarter to make it 8-0 after Bliss ran in the 2-point conversion.
“I told our coaches jokingly, I’ve been waiting for the coin toss all week long,” Bienkowski said. “That toss came up in our favor. We know we’re taking the ball. We know we most of the time, we establish the line of scrimmage and let them know this is where we’re gonna be at all night. And they met us initially, but they have to feel us for four quarters, and that’s our mantra. And no one wants to feel our guys before for four quarters, Carson Neely, Juuso Young, those guys.”
Young, Neely, Tyler Fillhart, Brayden Babcock and Ethan Tarbox once again controlled the line of scrimmage, as the Gators took their second drive of the game and went 44 yards after stopping Fort Cherry on 4th-and-6.
Bliss scored his second touchdown early in the second quarter and once again ran in the 2-point conversion to make it 16-0.
“They put in so much work to come out here and do that,” Port Allegany junior Tristan Kiser said. “The entire year, that’s all they’ve done. We told them they could do it and they came out here and did it again tonight.”
Kiser, a 1,000-yard rusher in his own right, missed the quarterfinal win over Wilmington with an injury, but did come back and play a key role on defense against the Rangers.
It was a defense that came up big time and again, stopping Sieg once more on fourth down on the Rangers’ (14-1) ensuing drive.
The Gators stalled out for the only time in the game on their next drive, but for the second straight week, scored a defensive touchdown to swing momentum. This time it was Issac Postlewaite pouncing on a ball at the Fort Cherry 22 and running into the end zone.
“We were able to contain their quarterback,” Burgess said. “That’s what we’ve been working on all week. We knew he was pretty fast. It was kind of like when we played Redbank. It was the same plan.”
The first of Burgess’ two interceptions on the next Fort Cherry drive not only took potential points away, but also set up another Gator touchdown, as Bliss rumbled for runs of 29 and 34 yards before scoring from eight yards out ot make it 32-0 with 4:17 to play in the half.
A long Fort Cherry kickoff return set them up at the Port Allegany 26, but Young forced fumble, and the Gators pounced on it. Fort Cherry did get the ball back, and Sieg completed a pair of passes to Nik Massey and Braydon Cook before calling his own number from 10 yards out.
Still, it was a masterclass effort by the Gators’ defense against Sieg, one of just two players in WPIAL history to run and pass for at least 4,000 yards in a career (Terrelle Pryor is the other).
“We went in the locker room and just told them to relax and stay within themselves,” Bienkowski said. “Do not get too worried. Do not get too frustrated. Do not get too high or too low. We are a well-schooled football team. We know how to do it. We’ve been here before, and here we are.”
Port forced a pair of three-and-outs on Fort Cherry’s first two drives of the second half, while scoring on the first two drives of their own on runs of 44 and 35 yards from Bliss, putting the running clock mercy rule into effect.
Now, it’s on to the state championship game for the first time in program history. The Gators will meet Bishop Guilfoyle, a 21-6 winner over Muncy, on Thursday at 1 p.m. at Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg.
“The stars aligned for us,” Bliss said.
AT CLARION
Fort Cherry 0 8 0 0 —8
Port Allegany 8 24 14 — 46
TEAM STATISTICS
First Downs: F: 7, P: 15; Rushes/Yards Rushing: F: 28-77, P: 48-343; Yards
Passing: F: 65; P: 0; Comp-Att-Int: F: 5-18-2, Home: 0-1-0; Penalties: F: 4-30, Home: 0-0; Fumbles-Lost: F: 3-2, P: 2-1; Total Yards: F: 142, Home: 330; Offensive Plays: F: 46, P: 39
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Passing: Fort Cherry: Matt Sieg 5-of-18, 65 yards, 2 INTs ; Home: Brennan Fillhart 0-of-1, 0 yards
Rushing: Fort Cherry: Ryan Huey 10-41, Matt Sieg 14-28, Josh Silveria 3-14, Christian Yanosko 1-2, Team 1-(minus)8 ; Port Allegany: Aiden Bliss 36-300, 5 TDs; Kellen Veilleux 7-46, Nick Wilfong 2-9, Team 3(minus)12
Receiving: Fort Cherry: Nik Massey 2-44, Braydon Cook 1-12, Shane Cornali 2-9; Port Allegany: None
Scoring summary
First quarter
P — Aiden Bliss 13 run (Bliss 2-point conversion run) , 5:07
Second quarter
P — Bliss 1 run (Bliss 2-point run), 11:26
P — Isaac Postlewaite 22 fumble return (Bliss 2-point run), 6:48
P — Bliss 8 run (Bliss 2-point run), 4:17
F — Matt Sieg 10 run (Sieg 2-point run), :20
Third quarter
P — Bliss 44 run (Bliss 2-point run), 7:53
P — Bliss 35 run (2-point conversion failed), 3:44
