Steel Valley football has been on Cruce control this season

MUNHALL, Pennsylvania – It’s no secret that Steel Valley football player Cruce Brookins has been ‘cruising’ so far in his senior year of high school football.

The three-star Kent State football recruit has been making plays on both sides of the ball as the team’s starting quarterback and defensive back, which is what he is recruited to play in college.

Brookins committed back in early August and for him being able to make a life-changing commitment and get it out of the way meant he could just focus on his senior season and on improving his game.

“I picked Kent State because every time I went up there it felt like a family,” Brookins said. “It took a lot of stress off of me once I committed so I could just focus on the season.

While Brookins’ future is on the defensive side of the ball, he is making the most of his opportunity to play offense at a high level. He is one of the biggest reasons why Steel Valley remains undefeated with a 10-0 record.

“The way we are able to have each other’s back on the field has been big for us winning,” Brookins said. “I know my teammates are 100% behind me and how I lead this team on the field no matter what and I am 100% behind my teammates and what they do.”

Cruce uses the handle @cruceishim on Instagram, and opponents have tried to gameplan to stop ‘Him’ this season, with very little success.

On the season, Brookins has rushed for 1,381 yards and 29 touchdowns, while averaging 15.2 yards per carry. He has also thrown for 625 yards and six touchdowns.

Steel Valley is the only one of two football teams that are still in the WPIAL postseason with an undefeated record, along with Aliquippa.

When a star player such as Cruce is helping a team stay undefeated, it’s hard to not notice as many people have been comparing his success and high level of play to other notable former Steel Valley football players such as Paris Ford, Jay Burt, Todd Hill, Dewayne Murray, Charlie Batch and others.

“It feels great playing for a school in Steel Valley,” Brookins said. “It feels good to know my name is being added to a list with other great players that have gone through here.”

However, even though Brookins has received a lot of attention, he definitely wants other people to know that it’s not just him producing.

In the past week, Cruce made a tweet about how his offensive line has been dominating and gave them credit showing that he wants his teammates to play at the next level.

With the fact that every single week, the offensive line works hard to give Cruce time to pass or open holes wide to make long rushing plays, he is using his connection with other college coaches from different schools to watch his teammates film and see how good they really are.

“During the offseason, the offensive line did a lot of weightlifting and all kinds of different drills in order to prepare us for competition,” sophomore starting lineman RaSaun Hough said. “During the season, we had a lot of hands-on training in equipment and that has helped us as well.”

While everyone knows Cruce as a football player, he is also a basketball player at Steel Valley and made a big impact as a starter helping the Ironmen make it to the WPIAL 3A quarterfinals last season.

Before last basketball season, Cruce did not play basketball for Steel Valley but he and star Ironmen basketball player Makhai Valentine made a deal that if Cruce played basketball during his junior season that Makhai would play football in his senior season. The deal has helped both players as Cruce is definitely happy that Makhai took a break from basketball to try and help him win a WPIAL and PIAA title in football.

Valentine has basketball offers from Division I schools such as the University of South Alabama and Sam Houston State University. His basketball skills and athleticism has helped the football team a lot playing receiver and defensive back as well. He currently leads the team in receiving yards (355) as six of his 10 receptions this season are touchdowns.

“Cruce and I clicked on the basketball court so I knew it wouldn’t be hard either once we got on the football field,” Valentine said. “He’s a great player and he is going to be a great safety, once he gets into college.”

With the success that Cruce has had athletically, it’s not surprising that he is related to NFL wide receiver DeSean Jackson, who is considered as one of the fastest receivers ever. But besides learning how to be a great player from his cousin, Brookins has also worked out with DeWayne Brown from 2Tenths Speed & Agility as he gives him a lot of credit helping his game expand to another level.

After rushing for 336 yards, scoring six touchdowns, and recording an interception, in Steel Valley’s 46-13 quarterfinals win over McGuffey last Friday, Brookins’ motivation and confidence of his team went up tweeting out how this year is their year to win.

Steel Valley will play Neshannock at Montour High School on Friday night in the WPIAL 2A Semifinals as the Ironmen are trying to make it back to the WPIAL championship for the first time since 2018.

“Winning a WPIAL and PIAA title would definitely be special to me, Cruce and the rest of our guys,” Valentine said. “We worked hard to get to where we are at now and everyone had counted us out before the season started, we’re not done yet, so stay tuned.