For members of the Farrell High School football, losing 25- 24 to Fort Cherry Friday night in the WPIAL Class A quarterfinals was heartbreaking.

However Farrell head coach Lou Falconi suffered personal heartache that made losing a scholastic football game pale by comparison: Falconi's 70-year- old mother Lucille, died of cancer earlier in the day.

``It's been a bad day for me, fellas, all the way around,'' Falconi told a group of reporters assembled on the quagmire of Rochester High School's field. ``I was just praying to God we could pull this game out to help matters a little bit, but I don't know.''

R.B. Hursh's 32-yard field goal with 10.6 seconds remaining completed an 18-play, 80-yard, game-winning scoring drive for the Rangers, who advanced to the WPIAL title tilt for the first time in head coach Jim Garry's 39-year tenure.

What made the loss particularly difficult for Farrell (9-3) was the Steelers had rallied from an early 15-0 deficit and assumed an 18-15 margin at intermission and a 24-15 bulge midway through the third period when Khalil Cotton capped a 10-play, 55-yard march with an 11-yard scoring sprint around right end.

However, Fort Cherry drew within 24-22 on a 6-yard touchdown run by prodigious sophomore tailback Mike Vernillo with 8:10 remaining in the fourth frame, then drove virtually the length of the field to set the stage for Hursh's game-winning field goal.

``I don't know, I don't know,'' Falconi admitted afterwards. ``I just thought we could pull this thing out. We had the game in hand, but you've gotta give them credit. They just stuck in there and did what they did best, and that's run the football. They got some key first downs, some close measurements, that one last one was a key, key play. Fourth-and, what, six and deep in their own territory? I mean, what do you want? They get the first down, that was a big play.''

Vernillo capped a 40-carry, 177- yard, 2-TD perforance on the Rangers' final drive. On the play to which Falconi alluded _ fourth-and-3 from the Fort Cherry 24-yard line _ Vernillo ran for three yards and a drive- sustaining first down. In all, he carried 10 times for 49 yards during the last series.

Garry said he and his staff never wavered from the decision to kick for the win.

``The time was running out, that's the only thing we could do,'' the bespectacled mentor explained. ``We'd been planning on that field goal. That's why we went for the one point after that third touchdown. We thought we could win with a field goal and that's what we planned on doing. Everything was on R.B.'s shoulders.

``It feels great!'' Garry said of the victory. ``These are the state champions two years in a row. My kids just wanted to see what it's like to play the state champions. And we did alright, not taking anything away from Farrell; they have a heckuva good football team.

``We told 'em all week long, you can't be intimidated by these kids, you can't! Maybe it helped, I don't know. But we won, and I'm happy,'' Garry, who will be leading Fort Cherry into its initial WPIAL title tilt next weekend at Three Rivers Stadium against Riveriew, a 14-6 upset victor over previously unbeaten South Side Beaver.

It was apparent from the outset that the Rangers were not intimated. Vernillo took the opening kickoff and burst through a wedge up the middle 86 yards for a score 14 seconds into the contest. Then fullback Brandon Chiera bulled over from two yards out to cap a 15-play, 67-yard, 7-minute, 21- second drive and tacked on a 2-point conversion with 1:14 remaining in the first frame for a 15-0 advantage.

But in characteristic fashion as it has done since back-to-back midseason setbacks, Farrell responded.

Jason Kennedy culminated a 6-play, 51-yard drive with an 8-yard TD run 1:47 into the second stanza, but the Steelers failed on the first of four conversion attempts, which would prove pivotal.

Following a Fort Cherry punt, Kennedy tallied his second touchdown, bouncing a first-down play outside left end, then sprinting 51 yards for his second score, drawing the Steelers within 15-12 with 5:33 left in the half.

Hursh's 35-yard field goal attempt with 1:23 remaining until intermission sailed wide left, and Farrell immediately capitalized.

Kennedy rambled 38 yards on the ensuing play, and quarterback Rennie Gash scrambled for a dozen before he was dropped for a 3-yard loss, setting up 2nd-and-13 at the Rangers 33.

Gash rolled right, but tossed a screen pass back to his left to Kennedy, who sprinted 32 yards to the Rangers' 1-yard line. Marino Harris then scored on the next play with 33.5 seconds left as the Steelers assumed an 18-15 margin, capping a 5-play, 80- yard drive.

Farrell commenced the second half with a 10-play, 55-yard march that consumed 5:15, but the sequence proved costly. On his second carry of the second half, Kennedy came up limping with a gimpy ankle with approximately 10:25 remaining in the third quarter. And despite the best efforts of the Farrell staff, Kennedy returned only briefly and without any effect the rest of the way.

Cotton's TD, on which he lunged for the pylon, increased the Steelers' lead to 24-15 with 6:43 left in the period.

``That was obviously real crucial,'' Falconi said of Kennedy's loss. ``I thought defensively, a lot. I thought we could hold on offensively after we got that score in the second half, but it just hurt too much defensively. He was making some big tackles in the first half and played real well.''

Regarding his mother's death, Falconi related, ``I don't think it had any effect on the kids' play. I don't think so. I think you've gotta give credit to this Fort Cherry (10-2) football team more than anything else. Nobody did what they did on the ground against us all year and they were really consistent with it and we were worried about it, big time.

``But I thought after the spurt right before the half, we got that score, and then we came out and punched it right down the field again, I thought we could really take control, but they didn't quit, they never quit, I gotta give them all the credit, my hat's off to them.''

Falconi will lose 20 seniors.

``This senior group, my son's in that class, and it's really sad,'' Falconi (157- 49-5) said. ``I've watched these kids grow up, I've followed them since they were in fifth grade. And I really thought that we could pull this out with that strong group of seniors. We just wanted to try to get this down again and came up short.

``Believe me, this does not bother me at all,'' Falconi said in conclusion. ``We've had tremendous success at Farrell _ two state championships, back to back, 12 consecutive playoff (victories). I mean, what can you say about that?

``I just hope people will judge these kids on how they performed and what these seniors have done for this community for three years. You can't judge 'em on one game. We lost two, we bounced back, we could easily have won this game just as easily as we lost it.''

Note: Vernillo increased his career totals to 4,019 yards on 497 carries and 47 touchdowns. He is the first sophomore in state annals to surpass the 4,000-yard mark and his rushing total is just 10 yards shy of the school standard, set by former Westminster College standout Brad Tokar.

WPIAL Class A Semifinals
 FARRELL        0  18 6  0   24 
 FT. CHERRY    15  0  0 10   25 
Scoring plays    
FC _ Vernillo 86 kickoff return (Hursh kick)    
FC _ Chiera 2 run (Chiera run)    
FA _ Kennedy 8 run (pass failed)    
FA _ Kennedy 51 run (run failed)    
FA _ Harris 1 run (run failed)    
FA _ Cotton 11 run (pass failed)    
FC _ Vernillo 6 run (Hursh kick)    
FC _ Hursh 32 FG 
Team stats 
FARRELL              FT. CHERRY
 14.....First downs.....18
 244.....Rushing yards.....222
 32.....Passing yards.....26
 6-1-1.....Att-comp-int.....7-2-0
 0-0.....Sacks-yards lost.....0-0
 276.....Total yards.....248
 1-0.....Fumbles-lost.....0-0
 6-40 1/2.....Penalties-yards lost.....4-40

Individual stats
Rushing: 
FARRELL _ Kennedy 13-141,   Gash 7-34, 
Claiborne 2-24, Bryant 7-22, Cotton 4-14, Harris 4-12; 
FT. CHERRY _ Vernillo   40-177, Chiera 12-45.    

Passing: FARRELL _ Gash 6-1-1-32; 
FT.   CHERRY _ Maroni 7-2-0-26.    

Receiving: 
FARRELL _ Kennedy 1-32;   FT. CHERRY _ Hursh 1-14, Keslar 1-12.