Clairton falls short vs. Bishop Guilfoyle in PIAA Class A title game

HERSHEY — In a record-setting season of scoring for Clairton, the Bears' bid for a fifth PIAA Class A football championship in six years was stopped by a single point.

Brandon Chadbourn passed for 116 yards, Sam McCloskey scored twice and District 6 champion Bishop Guilfoyle held Clairton on a late-game drive to secure a 19-18 victory and win its first PIAA title on Friday at Hersheypark Stadium.

Despite nearly doubling-up Bishop Guilfoyle in total yards (471-274), WPIAL champion Clairton, which won four consecutive titles from 2009-12, was denied when James Hines caught an 8-yard pass from Ryan Williams on fourth down with 47 seconds left but was ruled out of the back of the end zone.

The call infuriated Hines, a senior who led the Bears in receptions this season, and touched off a last-second skirmish that saw officials eliminate the traditional postgame handshake.

“I know where I was on the boundary,” Hines said. “I'm positive, 110 percent for sure, I was in.”

The drive was set up when Clairton's Jyleel Hall intercepted a Chadbourn pass near midfield with 4:04 left.

Hines said he tapped his left foot down.

“I know. I practice that with my coach, Remondo (Williams),” he said. “He tells us, ‘Make sure you keep your feet inbounds.' ”

Before the teams could line up to shake hands, Clairton was told to remain on the sideline.

“There is no handshake due to the coaching staff cannot control their team,” PIAA executive director Bob Lombardi said. “I was very disappointed to see a young man run onto the field and throw his helmet at the opposing team.”

When Bishop Guilfoyle (16-0) took over on downs, Clairton junior defensive end Donnie Alexander scuffled with BG players and senior offensive lineman Vance Gibson ran onto the field and threw his helmet at a player.

“What happened at the end is not (how Clairton wanted to end the game),” Clairton coach Wayne Wade said. “I had a few clowns who wanted to act like idiots.”

Order quickly was restored and the remaining 22 seconds were run off the clock while penalties were assessed.

“We are going to check the video, ask Clairton to review it and give us a response,” Lombardi said. “If we're not satisfied, we will bring them in front of the board of directors for a hearing. Unsportsmanlike acts like you saw will not be tolerated.”

Clairton City School District released a statement apologizing to the everyone involved.

“That behavior does not reflect our school or community or how we represent the WPIAL,” it said. “We hope our students learn from this experience and move forward positively. We as a district will strive to make this a learning experience for future endeavors and hope the public does not judge the entire season over the incident.”

The incident didn't take away from a wild celebration on Bishop Guilfoyle's side of the field, where fans hung over a railing and high-fived players and coaches.

Guilfoyle coach Justin Wheeler nearly was overcome with emotion as he praised both teams, saying Clairton (15-1) ultimately responded with class.

“It's an emotional game,” he said. “These are 18-year-olds and both teams wanted to win a championship. A bunch of their starters came over to shake hands. Fortunately, it didn't get out of hand at the end.”

The loss dampened another brilliant performance by Clairton sophomore running back Lamont Wade, who scored two touchdowns and rushed for 212 yards to set a WPIAL single-season rushing record with 2,762 yards. The old mark of 2,740 was held by Rushel Shell of Hopewell in 2010.

“I can't reflect on that right now,” Wade said. “I can't think of nothing else but this loss.”

Bishop Guilfoyle was making its first appearance in the PIAA playoffs. The Marauders led 13-12 at halftime and extended the lead to 19-12 in the third quarter on McCloskey's 12-yard touchdown run.

Clairton responded in the fourth to pull within 19-18 when Wade zig-zagged his way through the Guilfoyle defense on a 64-yard touchdown run, stiff-arming a defender to get to the end zone.

Harrison Dreher was stopped short of the goal-line on the two-point conversion run, but Wayne Wade insisted the ball had broken the plane.

“He was in,” Wade said. “But it is what it is. It came down to one play.”

Bishop Guilfoyle entered the game with seven shutouts — one more than Clairton — and a defense that was yielding an average of just 5.9 points per game.

But the Marauders were faced with stopping a Clairton offense that set a Pennsylvania record for scoring this season with 940 points (62.7) and needed 84 to set a U.S. standard.

After a scoreless first quarter, Clairton took a 6-0 lead when Williams, who was 15 for 23 for 156 yards, threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Mathews.

McCloskey's first touchdown — a 22-yard pass from Chadbourn — tied it at 6-6.

Wade caught a 61-yard pass from Mathews between two BG defenders along the sideline to give Clairton a 12-6 lead before Chadbourn's 13-yard touchdown run and Josh Trybus' extra point put BG ahead by a point at the break.

Dave Mackall is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at dmackall@tribweb.com.