PIAA State Title Preview – 1A: Fort Cherry vs Steelton-Highspire

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Matchup: </strong>Fort Cherry (15-0) vs Steelton-Highspire (15-0)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>WHEN:</strong> Thursday, December 7 - 1:00 p.m.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>WHERE:</strong> Chapman Field, Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>HOW TO WATCH: </strong>PCN OR NFHS NETWORK<strong> </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Coaching Matchup</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Fort Cherry - </strong>Tanner Garry</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tanner Garry and the Garry family run the Fort Cherry program and all together they've built one of the best programs in all of Pennsylvania with the Rangers collecting a 15-0 record this season. The Garry family has long been associated with the Fort Cherry program, with Tanner's father coaching the program for nearly a decade and his grandfather leading the program for over 40 years. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Not too long ago, the Fort Cherry program was 0-10 in the 2019 season, Now the program has become one of the best in the entire state. A testament to Tanner and the Gary family on top of all the hard work put in by the players as well. They've collected a 23-4 record over the last two seasons. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Steelton-Highspire Steamrollers - </strong>Andrew Erby</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The father of Steelton-Highspire stars Andrew and [player_tooltip player_id='64022' first='Alex' last='Erby'], Coach Erby is looking to lead the Rollers to a third state championship in four seasons. Since taking over the program in 2014, Erby has collected an 87-37 record including a 47-4 record since 2020. Always a strong program in the Mid-Penn conference, Erby has taken the Steamrollers program to the next level. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Well on his way to legendary ranks within the state, Erby's chance of collecting a third state title in four years would be an accomplishment that very few have been able to accomplish within the state. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">HOW THEY GOT THERE</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Fort Cherry </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Fort Cherry dominated for the most part this season, winning 13 of 15 matchups by double-digits. Their closest taste of defeat this season was a 48-41 win over Bishop Canevin as well as their 33-23 win over Redbank Valley in the state semifinals last weekend. In the playoffs, the Rangers took down Rochester (42-0), Bishop Canevin (33-21), South Side (42-28), and Redbank Valley (33-23). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Steelton-Highspire</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Rollers' defense has not been as dominant as they have been at times over the last few years but have still been dominant as a whole week in and week out. In the regular season, they won all but two games by double-digits with a 29-22 win over West Catholic and a 42-37 win over Trinity as their only narrow victories. In the playoffs, its been much more of the same, dominance week in and week out with wins over Belmont Charter (49-28), Northern Bedford County (21-7), Lackawanna Trail (43-25), and South Williamsport (48-21). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">A THRILLING QUARTERBACK MATCHUP</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This is a thrilling quarterback matchup on Thursday, arguably the best of the weekend, between 2024 signal caller and Navy commitment Alex Erby and 2026 athlete [player_tooltip player_id='402456' first='Matt' last='Sieg']. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='64022' first='Alex' last='Erby']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There's not much you could probably say about [player_tooltip player_id='64022' first='Alex' last='Erby'] that hasn't already been said. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound pro-style quarterback is one of the most prolific passers in state history and has a chance to win three state championships in his four years, that type of success is rarely seen in this state and no matter the result of Thursday's contest, Alex is going to go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks to come through the ranks of the Keystone State which is saying something considered how talent-rich the Keystone State has been at the quarterback position. In his career, he's passed for over 13,000 yards and this season has amassed over 4,000 yards plus 56 passing touchdowns, he'll have the opportunity this weekend to break the state's single-season passing touchdown record in the process. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='402456' first='Matt' last='Sieg']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong> </strong>Already amassing multiple Power Five offers, Sieg is well on his way to being a Power Five prospect, though some are recruiting him at safety instead of quarterback. That being said, Sieg is a pretty darn good quarterback as well. The 2026 athlete has been phenomenal all season long both through the air and on the ground. Through the air, he's completed 57.3% of his passes for 1,338 yards and 18 touchdowns with just three interceptions. On the ground, he's a dynamic ball carrier, with the potential to make a house call on any given play, totaling 1,785 rushing yards and 33 touchdowns on the ground. He's averaged 11.3 yards per carry this season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>HIGH POWERED OFFENSES</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It should be no surprise that with these quarterbacks also comes a pair of high-powered offenses, two of the best offenses in the entire state. Fort Cherry this season is averaging 44.5 points per game, totaling 668 total points through 15 games. Steelton-Highspire is just a tad bit ahead of the Rangers, totaling 680 points, an average of 45.3 points per game. We talked about the quarterbacks but what other talent will be displayed at Cumberland Valley on Thursday? Let's take a look. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Fort Cherry</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Beyond [player_tooltip player_id='402456' first='Matt' last='Sieg'], names to know for Fort Cherry on offense begin with senior running back [player_tooltip player_id='696085' first='Ethan' last='Faletto']. Faletto has been a dangerous ball carrier this season, averaging 9.0 yards per carry and totaling over 1,000 yards. He also had 16 rushing touchdowns on the season. Junior Nate Heirendt has also been very good on the ground this season with 447 rushing yards on 662 carries, an average of 7.2 yards per attempt. This is a deadly Fort Cherry rushing attack that Steelton-Highspire will have their hands full with. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>From a receiving perspective, watch out for junior [player_tooltip player_id='1054527' first='Shane' last='Cornali'] who has 488 receiving yards on the season and five touchdowns. Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='1155875' first='Evan' last='Rogers'] and Braydon Cook have also been very good this season with 288 and 259 receiving yards a piece while averaging over 20 yards per reception. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Steelton-Highspire</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We could not find season stats for Steelton-Highspire so we do apologize for the lack of numbers that being said. This is a tremendous offense at every juncture with playmakers throughout. We talked about [player_tooltip player_id='64022' first='Alex' last='Erby'] but even beyond Erby are standouts such as senior wide receivers Rell Ceasar Jr and Kam Chisolm, running back Ronadl Burnette Jr, and sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='1624061' first='Jaishawn' last='George']. The Steelrollers are DEEP on offense and it's easy to see how they put together one of the best-scoring offenses in the state this season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>DOMINANT DEFENSES</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>These two teams are not all offensive as both possess strong, dominant defenses as well. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Fort Cherry:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For the Rangers, they've allowed 197 points this season, an average of 13.3 points per game. They're strong both against the pass and the run but they have not been tested yet like they will be by [player_tooltip player_id='64022' first='Alex' last='Erby'] and the Rollers on Thursday.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It will be up to the likes of senior Zach Serafin, [player_tooltip player_id='402456' first='Matt' last='Sieg'], junior [player_tooltip player_id='1054527' first='Shane' last='Cornali'], and senior Nashaun Racheed Sutton to have strong games against the pass on Thursday for the Rangers to win. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Steelton-Highspire:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Defensively, Steelton-Highspire is just nearly as loaded on defense as they are on offense. Defensive tackle [player_tooltip player_id='142805' first='Andrew' last='Erby Jr'], linebacker [player_tooltip player_id='145881' first='Amari' last='Williams'], defensive end [player_tooltip player_id='377422' first='Eugene' last='Green'], [player_tooltip player_id='377819' first='Taevon' last='Legrande'], Sean Bennett Jr, [player_tooltip player_id='386326' first='Javius' last='Dent'], and others are all names that have stood out at one time or another for the Rollers. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>While it will be the Fort Cherry secondary that will be under the most pressure to perform on Thursday to step Steelton-Highspire, it will be the Rollers front seven that will need to have a big performance in order to slow down the Fort Cherry rushing attack. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>OVERALL</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Overall, we are in store on Thursday for a thrilling matchup between these two programs. These are the types of matchups we look forward to all season. The storylines go well beyond that and are of course headlined by Fort Cherry, the program on the rise taking on a potential dynasty in Steelton-Highspire. We're not going to give any final score prediction but we're confident that Thursday afternoon's matchup is going to be one that you won't want to miss. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><em>Have information regarding a prospect or team that you believe would be useful for us to know? Feel free to contact me at dylanccwriting@gmail.com or on Twitter,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/RivalsDylanCC">here</a>.</em></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Want to claim your profile or don't see a profile for you? 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