Sole survivor: Area’s last remaining football team, Trojans take on Clairton
Mark Marietta
Only one local high school football team has made it to the WPIAL quarterfinals in each of the last two years.
That accomplishment belongs to California, which knocked out seventh-seeded Laurel, 22-6, last week in the first round of the WPIAL Class A playoffs.
Lee Qualk, the WPIAL’s leading scorer with 232 points, led the way as usual for the Trojans (8-3), rushing for 145 yards and scoring all three of his team’s touchdowns, including one on a pass reception.
Next up for 10th-seeded California (8-3) tonight will be unbeaten No. 2 seed Clairton (10-0), which trounced No. 15 Rochester, 56-0, in the first round. The two meet at Charleroi with a 7 p.m. kickoff.
Trojans coach Ed Woods is pleased with his team’s performance so far in the 2024 season.
“I’m very happy and very proud of what these guys have accomplished up to this point,” Woods said. “Everything they have done in that weight room in the winter through the summer getting prepared for this season has been paying off for them, other than one loss two weeks ago that could’ve gone either way.”
Woods was referring to a 28-27 defeat at the hands of Jefferson-Morgan in a clash for the Tri-County South Conference title, but California put that bitter loss in the rearview mirror and are now in the elite eight of the WPIAL.
“The kids are still playing hard. To be in the second round of the playoffs and still have the motivation and the drive that these kids have is something else,” Woods said. “I can’t ask for a better football team this year. The coaches have worked really hard. We’re really looking forward to Friday night down at Charleroi.”
Qualk leads the way for California with a district-best 2,130 rushing yards and 36 touchdowns. He’s averaging 9.5 yards per carry, The Trojans have other weapons as well, including Malachi Peak who’s run for 432 yards with an average just slightly below Qualk’s at 9.2 yards per attempt.
California doesn’t throw the ball much but quarterback Logan Hartley has been effective when he’s been asked to put the ball in the air, completing 35 of 58 passes for 578 yards and nine touchdowns with just two interceptions.
Clairton features a balanced attack with Jeffrey Thompson completing 87 of 140 passes for 1,828 yards and 27 TDs with only three interceptions and Drahcir Jones running for 1,161 yards and 21 touchdowns.
“Clairton obviously is a good football team,” Woods said of the Bears. “They have skill guys everywhere and they can run and they have big and strong guys, too. They have a good offense and, defensively, they’ve only given up three touchdowns all year.”
The only teams to score on Clairton were Steel Valley, Leechburg and Brentwood which each scored seven points. The Bears are averaging 54.1 points for game while allowing just 1.9 while the Trojans are at 40.9 and 15.
The two have one common opponent in Serra Catholic which Clairton blanked 43-0 and the Trojans hammered 62-26.
California’s only losses were to Cornell (9-2), 27-3, Class AA Waynesburg Central (6-5), 28-18, and J-M (10-1), 28-27.
PIAA volleyball
Sites and times have been set for the area’s two surviving girls volleyball teams which both play in the PIAA quarterfinals Saturday.
In Class A, Frazier (16-4), which stunned District 10 champion Saegertown in the first round, 3-2, plays District 9 champion Clarion (13-4), a 3-1 winner over Eden Christian, at North Allegheny High School with a 2 p.m. start.
In Class AA, Southmoreland (17-5), which took out District 5 champion North Star in the first round, 3-2, goes up against District 10 runner-up Cathedral Prep (16-5), which upset WPIAL champion Quaker Valley, 3-2, at Sharon High School with a 12 noon start.