PIAA roundup: Clairton owns nation's longest win streak at 47

HERSHEY, Pa. — The home side of Hersheypark Stadium, clad in black and gold, filled the Southern Columbia stands with probably more people than the 6,796 that live in tiny Clairton, Penn. That's usually been the case this season for the Clairton Bears. The opposing team usually had more players that were often larger. It's what endears the small, impoverished community, and why it has wrapped itself around its high school team. It's been an area source of pride and achievement. The community's beating heart and soul, if you will.

Now Clairton (Pa.) solely owns something that's placed its tiny town on the national football landscape: The nation's longest current winning streak — 47 games — after the Bears fought off a few valiant attempts by Southern Columbia Area (Catawissa, Pa.) to capture their third consecutive PIAA Class A state title, 35-19.

The Bears concluded their season 16-0 and possess the country's longest winning streak, exceeding by one national powerhouse Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.), whose season has ended with a 46-game winning streak. It's the longest current winning streak in the country for high school, college and pro football (Division III University of Wisconsin at Whitewater currently holds the longest collegiate streak at 44 as it heads for a third-straight NCAA Division III championship).

Clairton led from start to finish, but fended off a few Southern Columbia thrusts that could have toppled the streak. Up 21-19 deep into the fourth quarter, Bears running back Tyler Boyd broke loose for the first of his two fourth-quarter touchdowns that secured the victory.

The 6-foot-1, 170-pound speedy junior finished with a game-high 218 yards rushing on 14 carries, the bulk of which came on amazing touchdown runs of 78 and 68 yards.

"This was all about the seniors and all for the seniors," said Boyd, whose electric 55-yard run on a broken halfback option pass led to another Clairton score in the waning seconds of the first half. "The seniors were crying before the game even began. I knew I had to do this for the seniors. That was my motivation. We had to do this for them."

In the Bears' locker room after the game, the gold medal dangled from Boyd's neck. Every few seconds he looked down at it, in between sending text messages to the myriad followers he has and is bound to gain after the way he played. But he did take time to look up and give senior Trenton Coles a big hug.

Coles, a 6-3, 180-pound senior wide receiver, was on crutches. He was lost for the game after kicking an extra point that gave the Bears a 21-12 halftime lead. Coles was bowled over by a Southern Columbia defender after the play and lost for the game with a severe knee injury.

"Most of us have been all together playing for the same youth team since we were 5 years old," Coles said. "We never saw anything like this back then. We all used to dream about playing for Clairton's high school team. We all used to dream about playing for the Bears. Now we have all of this happening to us. It's something that's unbelievable."

Defense was a vital key in the Bears' victory. They picked up six sacks for minus-55 yards, with two major sacks coming from senior linebacker Reuben Kelley, whose 8-yard sack early in the fourth quarter led to a Southern Columbia punt. His second sack for minus-17 yards basically closed the door on any comeback hopes the Tigers had.

Carvan Thompson, the Bears' 6-foot, 230-pound senior center/nose guard, ended his high school career with a personal state record milestone of his own by starting in his 64th game in a row, the most consecutive games ever started by a Pennsylvania high school player (breaking the previous record of 59 by Strath Haven's Dan Connor 2000-03). Carvan, the older brother of Clairton quarterback Capri Thompson, took one last look at the field after grabbing his helmet and walking off for the last time.

Carvan fought back tears as he reflected on an incredible streak that started back in his sophomore season. He shook his head in wonder about how quickly the time went.

"This time is something that I'll never forget, these guys, this town, everything," said Carvan, moments after a long, emotional hug with his brother Capri. "You know Capri is my brother, but I see these guys on this team and they're all like my brothers.

"That's the bond that we had on this team and to this community. We all started around 7 and 8 years old and this is where we're all finishing together. We went from the ‘Little Clairton Bears' to this — state champions and having the country's longest winning streak."

Class AAA
Archbishop Wood 52, Bishop McDevitt 0

There was only one goal this season for Archbishop Wood (Warminster). Nothing else was acceptable. It was a simple yet daunting aim, reaching into an area no other Wood team had ventured into before—and that was winning a PIAA state football championship.
 
From August, the talk was loud and built into an even larger crescendo the deeper the Vikings went into the season.
 
The Vikings went out and did what everyone, including themselves, expected and won the school’s first state championship in football, crushing a very good Bishop McDevitt team.
 
The 52-point difference was a state record. It marked the largest margin of victory in the 24-year history of the PIAA state championship game—and it was the exclamation point that topped Wood’s amazing season (Central Bucks West's 49-point difference in its 56-7 victory over New Castle in the 1998 Class AAAA final was the previous largest margin of victory).
 “To be honest, for the seniors, there was never any doubt, we thought we could win the state championship from Day One, but this team stayed determined,” Wood quarterback Joe Monaghan said. “This practiced just as hard the first day of the season until yesterday preparing for this game. I think I’ll always remember what a special group this is and what we did. It’s something we’ll always have together.”
 
The Vikings finished the year 14-1, outscoring their opponents 672-124.
 
Woods’ Brandon Peoples, bound for Temple, finished with a game-high 171 yards and three touchdowns on runs of 30, 67 and 6 yards, while his cousin Desmon Peoples rushed 151 yards and scored on runs of 54 and 1 yard. Brandon and Desmon combined for 322 of Wood’s 343 yards rushing for the game. McDevitt had just 20 yards—and minus-6 yards rushing at halftime.
 
“We set a standard, and it was a high standard,” Brandon Peoples said. “Desmon is my cousin, but he’s more like my brother. I’m always over his house, or he’s always over mine. This means everything to share with him. It means everything to share out with this whole team.”
 
It was a thoroughly dominating performance by the Vikings, who led 31-0 at halftime and had amassed 211 yards on the ground. With 5 minutes, 37 seconds left in the the third quarter, the mercy rule was instituted when Wood’s Andrew Guckin went 75 yards with an interception return for a touchdown.
 
With new Ohio State coach Urban Meyer watching, along with assistants Luke Fickell and Mike Vrabel, Wood pounded away for 391 total yards of offense against a defense led by one of the nation’s best defensive ends, Noah Spence. But it Wood’s Colin Thompson, bound for Florida, the Peoples cousins and the Wood team that may have gained some added attention from Meyer and his onlooking staff.

After the game, Meyer walked over to Desmon Peoples and asked if he was still going to Rutgers. Meyer did walk away with something - Spence will be visiting Ohio State on Saturday with Meyer as his tour guide.
 
“We had a goal in the beginning of the season, that was to win the state title,” Thompson said. “We can finally say we did it.”