McKeesport has gone a while without winning a WPIAL football title, a two-decade drought that started before any current player was even born.
Not since 2005, yet the Tigers hope to finally celebrate Saturday when they make their third straight appearance in the WPIAL finals. They finished as runners-up the past two years, losing twice to a higher-seeded opponent.
This year, they’re the favorites.
Top-seeded McKeesport (9-3), tabbed as the preseason favorite in August, faces No. 7 Aliquippa (8-3) at 12:05 p.m. Saturday in the WPIAL Class 4A final at Pine-Richland.
“We’re where we want to be,” McKeesport coach Matt Miller said. “We wanted another crack at it. I know this is the third year in a row. But we’re healthy, and we feel good about everything.”
The game is a rematch from the 2023 finals, when top-seeded Aliquippa won 35-21 over No. 2 McKeesport. Last year, the third-seeded Tigers lost to No. 1 Thomas Jefferson, 28-7.
Miller said those near misses didn’t discourage them.
“We come into the season every year thinking we should win it,” Miller said. “We think we’re always in the conversation. … (The loss) only lingers whenever you think you don’t have any talent coming back.”
That wasn’t an issue.
McKeesport has plenty, starting with star junior running back Kemon Spell, a major-college recruit ranked as one of the top talents in the country. The Tigers haven’t lost a game this season when Spell is healthy.
But of course, McKeesport’s opponent has won more WPIAL titles than anyone. Aliquippa owns a record 20 including three in a row in 2021-23, so the Quips maybe aren’t so quick to buy into any underdog storyline.
“That’s the narrative people write, which could be rightly so,” Aliquippa coach Mike Warfield said. “We can’t focus on being an underdog or not being an underdog. That doesn’t change whether you’re blocking and tackling.”
The Quips’ record streak of 16 consecutive finals appearances ended last season. But this year, they’re back.
“You want to appreciate it and not take it for granted,” Warfield said. “Just prepare like it’s the first time. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
McKeesport is coming off a 28-3 victory over No. 4 Thomas Jefferson in the semifinals. Spell rushed for 331 yards on 16 carries and scored on touchdown runs of 6, 97 and 55 yards.
The game was one of his best of the year and showed the ankle injury that limited him earlier in the season has improved. The team went 1-3 in the four games Spell sat out, but they’ve won five in a row since he returned.
He leads with 30 touchdowns and 1,614 yards rushing on 117 carries.
As a freshman, Spell had just four carries for 23 yards and two catches for 43 yards and a touchdown in the 2023 finals against Aliquippa. He wasn’t the offensive catalyst that he is now.
“There were some other players on that team that they showcased a little bit more, but he was a really good player then,” Warfield said. “You can’t practice against it. It’s a different speed. So, we’ve got to be ready to play from the coin toss.”
McKeesport quarterback Matthew Miller has passed for 886 yards and 10 touchdowns while also rushing for six scores. His top target is junior Javien Robinson, a Power 4 recruit with 16 catches and five touchdowns.
Aliquippa reached the finals with a 14-0 victory over No. 3 New Castle last week and a 21-14 win over No. 2 Trinity in the quarterfinals.
The Quips scored twice after halftime against New Castle last week to break what was a scoreless tie. Senior running back J.J. Work rushed for 176 yards in the win, including a 39-yard touchdown. Lester Longmire added a 1-yard TD run.
“They’re physical, they’re athletic, and they’ve got some good size up front,” Miller said. “They still have guys from a couple of years ago when we played against them.”
The Quips’ postseason run was bolstered by the return of senior quarterback Marques Council Jr., a Yale recruit sidelined late in the regular season. He completed only three throws last week, but his presence keeps defenses honest.
“Getting their quarterback back has made them a lot harder to defend,” Miller said. “Now they have (wide receiver Qalil Goode) catching the ball instead of running it.”
McKeesport has won four WPIAL titles but only two in the past 80 years — 2005 and 1994. Miller, an assistant coach in ‘05, said his players today are aware of those historic teams.
“Everybody knows,” he said. “In our community, not a lot of people have moved out. Last year, we brought back the ’94 team for the 30-year anniversary. Earlier this season, we brought back the ‘05 team.
“We use them as examples.”