'Cats ready for big challenge from Clairton
Written: Nov 06, 2014
 By Andrew Koob
New Castle News
The Shenango High football team has set a precedent.
A 35-7 victory over Springdale last Friday gave the Wildcats their first postseason win since 2002.
However, they’ll need to bring everything they have, and maybe even more, when they meet Clairton in the WPIAL Class A quarterfinals at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Chartiers-Houston.
The Bears are the No. 2 seed in the Class A playoffs and could have made a strong argument for the top seed, held by Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic. Clairton has averaged 67.2 points per game while only allowing opposing offenses to score 3.6 per game. Its largest margin of victory came in an 86-0 win over Wilkinsburg in the second game of the season; its lowest winning margin was against Jeannette, Neshannock’s quarterfinal opponent, in a 58-14 win.
“That’s a pretty good margin of victory,” Commesso said. “You watch them on film and they’re really good, they’re really fast, they execute. They try to score a lot of points on you and their defense doesn’t give up much. Great quality opponent, but it’s also a great challenge and a great opportunity for us. So we’ll practice hard all week and give it our best shot.”
Clairton (10-0) has a number of weapons at its disposal. Quarterback Ryan Williams has 1,635 passing yards and 23 touchdowns while only throwing two interceptions. Tailback Lamont Wade, only a sophomore, is averaging 17.3 yards per tote and 1,384 rushing yards on the season.
The Bears have six different receivers averaging more than 10 yards per catch. James Hines leads the team with 475 yards on 16 receptions, almost 30 yards for every reception.
The numerous options and vast amount of skill that the Bears present at almost every position is a tall task for the Wildcats.
“That is the reason why we’re able to score as much as we’ve scored,” Clairton coach Wayne Wade said. “We have a lot of skill with our running back and a quarterback that can run throw. It kind of keeps the defense balanced and at any given moment five or six guys can take the ball to the house.”
Wade, in his first official year at the helm, was the interim coach for the Bears in 2001 when Clairton went 4-5. He also was on the coaching staff of the Bears teams that won four straight PIAA Class A titles and 66 straight games between 2009 and 2013.
Shenango (7-3) did its damage on the ground, like it has done all season, with 274 rushing yards against Springdale. Tailback Hunter Waskin scored two of the four rushing touchdowns for the Wildcats.
They’ll need more of the same tomorrow night.
“Offensively, we have to find ways to get first downs and try to eat up clock and keep them off the field,” Commesso said. “That would be the biggest thing and, on defense, you have to make tackles at the line of scrimmage. Once they hit the second level, it’s really tough.”
Wade is impressed with what he’s seen of the Wildcats on film, but won’t change anything to accommodate Shenango.
“They’re a well-coached team, they do well up front,” Wade said. “They have some skill, some speed. We’re just going to do what we do. Get all the guys to the ball, play aggressive and fast and get after them like we’ve been doing all year. Our defense has shown they can go up against anybody. We’re not going to change a lot. We’re in week 11 and looking to play our style.”
Clairton has the history to match up with any other team in the state. Shenango, on the other hand, doesn’t quite have that prestige, but it does have the advantage of going against the best the WPIAL Class A has to offer this season.
“Clairton does have their reputation, their legacy for what they’ve accomplished the last few years,” Commesso said. “One of the things that’ll help us is our strength of schedule. We’ve played Neshannock, we’ve played (Cardinal Wuerl) North Catholic, we’ve played a playoff game. We’ll definitely give them the respect that they deserve, but we don’t want to sell ourselves short. We want to make sure that we’re confident in what we can do and make sure that we go out and prepare well. You never know, so we’ll give it our best shot.”
The Wildcats, a game into the playoffs, don’t need to worry about breaking streaks anymore. Commesso now believes the focus lies solely on the Bears and their overall attack.
“Experience is everything,” Commesso said. “We’ve been able to win some games and that experience has helped us down the stretch. We’ve played a playoff game, so that experience helps you even more. Experience is key, I think the second game the kids will be more focused on the game and less about the first time in 12 years and ‘we haven’t been here’ and ‘we haven’t won.’ Now it’s more about the opponent and where we’re at instead of some of the other things.”
Shenango earned home-field advantage in the first round, but won’t be in the friendly confines of Frank Bongivengo Field come tomorrow. The distance between the playing site and the two participants bodes well for Clairton.
“It’s tough to play on the road,” Commesso said. “That’s why home-field advantage is so critical in the first round. We’re going to travel over an hour to get there, so it’ll be tough to get a big crowd there. On the flip side, they’re traveling a half hour so I’m sure they’ll travel a little bit better, it’s in their neck of the woods. So advantage them, for sure, as far as where we’re playing. But you can’t focus on those things, you just focus on things you can control.”
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