Clairton Finds Way Back to Top of WPIAL for First Time Since 2019
PITTSBURGH — The Clairton football program is back where it normally at, which is atop of the WPIAL after it took down Laurel by the score of 8-6 in the 2025 WPIAL Class-A Championship.
The Bears jumped ahead of the Spartans 8-0 just before halftime on a touchdown by highly-touted sophomore Brandon Murphy, but by the fourth quarter, it looked as if they were in danger of facing the same result as last year, losing the championship game by one-point.
As the Spartans were trying to center the ball for a potential game-winning field goal, Murphy popped again and forced the game-winning fumble on the Laurel ball carrier which clinched the Bears’ 15th WPIAL title and first since 2019.
“We were looking for a great year because we had unfinished business at this podium from last year,” Clairton head coach Wayne Wade said. “We stood here as runner’s up and this group of seniors here since probably February decided that we were going to win a championship and they did it.”
Looking back, it really does not feel like it has been six years since Clairton won its last WPIAL title but that is exactly how long it has been since the Bears and Coach Wade gave a championship-winning speech at Acrisure Stadium.
“No,” Wade said about if it feels like it has been six years. “The reason is because we are always in the playoff picture, we always have an opportunity to try to win a championship and that’s a testament to how hard that these kids work. So no, it does not feel it has been that long.”
Wade is not wrong in that statement as the Bears came close to reigning supreme a season ago but fell to Fort Cherry in the championship game by just a single point, albeit they were without quarterback Jeff Thompson for that playoff run due to a shoulder injury.
Thompson came back and finished his senior season with a career-high in passing yards all the while leading his team to a WPIAL championship.
“It means a lot to me because I felt like I let the team down last year,” Thompson said. “I wasn’t healthy, I couldn’t throw the ball, there was nothing that I could do.”
While Thompson was the star of the Bears’ offense that averaged 47 points per game this year, it was the defense that had a historic season.
After losing to Imani Christian in the season opener by the score of 19-12, Clairton’s defense did not allow a single point to be scored on them over the remainder of the regular season. The Bears outscored their Eastern Conference opponents by a total of 390-0 this year.
Ironically, it was the defense that came up with the championship-clinching play for Clairton.
“I didn’t think it would be as hard for us offensively to move the ball but it was,” Wade said. “It’s a testament to our defense. Our defense has played lights out all year. I don’t think there has been a team in WPIAL history that went nine straight weeks with shutouts.”
Finishing as the runner’s up is never good enough for Clairton, only championships matter in that program so for them to get back to the top of the pedestal this season means the world for the Bears’ community and football program.
“It’s huge,” Wade said. “Anytime that we are down here and we are able to win a championship is huge. We are second in the WPIAL with 15 titles. I think this is my fifth title as a head coach and it never gets old.”
While the journey is not finished for this year’s Clairton team as the PIAA state playoffs are on deck, it almost seems that all is right in the world when the Bears are winning titles in football.
