A few snow flakes were in the air about 45 minutes before Steel Valley and Riverside kicked off in a WPIAL Class 2A semifinal Saturday at North Allegheny’s Newman Stadium. But the real flurry didn’t begin until the game started.
The forecast called for a flurry of Murray, as in Steel Valley running back DeWayne Murray. He scored the first three touchdowns of the game and eclipsed 6,000 yards for his career while leading the top-seeded Ironmen to a 42-0 triumph against No. 4 Riverside.
Steel Valley (12-0) will take on Neshannock (12-1) for the WPIAL championship at 6 p.m. Saturday at Robert Morris University.
The Ironmen hope to party like it’s 1989 after that one. Steel Valley has not played for the title since Charlie Batch was a sophomore in 1989. That was the second of back-to-back championships.
“We have an opportunity to accomplish something that hasn’t been done in a long time, before these guys were even born,” Steel Valley coach Rod Steele said. “I’m just so excited for them, so excited for the community back home and we look forward to the challenge.”
Murray opened the scoring with a 32-yard run, then hauled in a 8-yard pass from Ryan Harper and punched it in from 2 yards. Murray had 99 yards rushing at halftime.
“It’s very important to set the tone early,” Murray said. “It gets our defense fired up and everyone playing good.”
He finished with 142 yards rushing, 35 receiving and four touchdowns.
Harper connected on 11 of 16 passes for 156 yards with three touchdown passes.
Pitt recruit Paris Ford ran for 33 yards and added another 31 receiving.
The Ironmen have enforced mercy ruled every team they have faced this season.
The defense dominated as well. The aggressive Ironmen controlled the line of scrimmage and swarmed to the ball. Riverside (9-3) couldn’t get anything going on the ground and freshman quarterback Ben Hughes was picked off by Tremeire Redden in the first half.
It was the fifth shutout of the season for the Ironmen and the ninth time they have held an opponent to single digits or fewer.
Riverside’s best chance of scoring came in the fourth quarter, when Noah Harris picked up a fumble and brought it to the Steel Valley 18. But that drive stalled on the 5 when the Ironmen defense stuffed an Austin Dambach run on fourth-and-goal.
First Published: November 20, 2016, 3:50 a.m.
