Pennsylvania football springs from rich history

By Bob Herman

In 1922, the National Football League (NFL) began to make a name for itself as it changed its league name from the American Professional Football Association to the NFL. That same year, high school football in Pennsylvania crossed paths with the NFL's history as the first state championship game was officially played and recorded.

Even though high school football had been played in Pennsylvania as far back as the 1890s, no state championships were actually recorded.

Harrisburg Tech (which no longer exists) defeated Lock Haven (which is now Mill Hall Central Mountain High School), 43-16, in the championship game that featured one team from the Eastern Pennsylvania Interscholastic Football Conference and one team from the Western Pennsylvania Conference. The postseason battles between the East and West district foes lasted until 1940 when the two leagues split championship ways.

The Eastern Conference was regrouped into two divisions in 1941 -- the Northern and Southern Divisions -- and a Central Division was added in 1978. As populations increased, different enrollment classifications also had to be made, and an increasing desire for statewide playoffs bubbled throughout Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association even filed a lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) to start statewide playoffs. The PIAA won the court case, which found that the PIAA did not have to initiate high school football playoffs, but in 1988, the PIAA Board of Directors agreed to start statewide playoffs with an elaborate point system and four enrollment classifications.

PIAA Executive Director Brad Cashman explained that District VII of the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) was the first group to have its own playoffs, and the football season gradually became longer. It had traditionally been a 10-week season, and the WPIAL was extending it by two weeks to determine district champions.

Since 1994, however, the PIAA has had on-the-field playoffs in which there are 16 teams in the postseason bracket, including every district champion. There are four enrollment classifications -- A, AA, AAA and AAAA -- so there are four state champions every year as recognized by the PIAA.

"The players and coaches have been very enthusiastic about statewide playoffs," Cashman said. "Every one of our district champions has a shot at our state championship now. When we get to the championship games, the players and coaches get very intense. There's an atmosphere you can't find anywhere else, including crosstown rivalries."

One side effect of the statewide playoffs, though, is the longer season, which now lasts 16 weeks.

"My personal preference is to shorten the season to 15 weeks, but right now we'll have 16 weeks for this year and also for 2008-09," Cashman said. "After next year, we're hoping to change some things that can cut that back one week."

Cashman said that one problem with the longer football postseasons involves a knotty time crunch for multisport athletes.

"It creates an overlap with the winter season," he said. "Football players who want to participate in winter sports are at a distinct disadvantage because they can't practice and play with their respective teams."

There is a multitude of successful high school football programs in Pennsylvania, many of which produced illustrious professional players such as Dan Marino, Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas, Marvin Harrison and a plethora of others.

Perhaps the most notable program in the state is the school with the most wins in Pennsylvania football history: Mount Carmel Area High School. As of October 8, Mount Carmel has 762 wins and five Class AA state championships, and the program won the first state championship that was played in Pennsylvania State University's Beaver Stadium in 1927.

Mount Carmel Sports Information Director Phil Gergen and PIAA official statistician Dr. Roger Saylor keep tabs on the most successful programs in Pennsylvania, and the records they've compiled range from the top 60 winningest programs in Pennsylvania (constantly updated) to every champion since 1922.

"Pennsylvania football from the 1910s to the 1950s had dominant football teams in the nation," Gergen said. "We've had great players come out of the Western Pennsylvania area like Dan Marino and Joe Montana, but there has been a growth of all the teams in Florida, Texas and California. We're still strong, but we're slipping (compared with them)."

Other high schools besides Class AA Mount Carmel that have had venerable programs include Easton High School, Berwick High School, New Castle High School, Pottsville High School, Folsom Ridley High School, Doylestown Central Bucks West High School, Catawissa Southern Columbia High School and Upper St. Clair High School.

Central Bucks West, which Gergen referred to as one of the most imposing programs during the ‘90s, won back-to-back-to-back Class AAAA state titles in 1997, 1998 and 1999 and also took the crown in 1991.

Pottsville won roughly 73 percent of its games between 1940 and 1980, second to Mount Carmel's 76 percent, and the team has been the runner-up of the Class AAA state championship the past two years.

Within the past 13 years, there has been no football program as successful in Pennsylvania or the PIAA as the Southern Columbia Tigers. It has not played in only one Class A state title game since 1994. The program has also won the past five Class A state championships (six total, more than any other team) and was the runner-up on five separate occasions, as well. However, it still is not one of the winningest programs in Pennsylvania because it has played fewer than 500 games.

Friday night football games are still a staple in certain parts of Pennsylvania, especially the smaller communities, but the kickoff times have been altered from past years.

"There are still a lot of small communities that revere high school football on Friday nights," Cashman said. "Friday night kickoffs were at 8:00 p.m. It gave parents and fans the chance to go home after work, have a meal and go out to the game. Now it's 7:00 p.m. It's kind of evolved into a friendlier type of kickoff for visiting teams if there's a long bus trip."

The state championship games are held at centrally located Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey and will be played December 14 and 15 (Friday and Saturday) this year. Friday will feature the Class A and AAA championships while Saturday will feature the Class AA and AAAA title games. The games are also broadcasted statewide by the Pennsylvania Cable Network.

"It has been a very exciting atmosphere, of course depending on the matchup, but some matchups have been absolutely electric," Cashman said of the state championship games.

After more than 80 years, both the NFL and Pennsylvania high school football have established histories, and as Cashman sees it, high school football in Pennsylvania and the PIAA will always be a stronghold in interscholastic athletics.

"I think high school football in Pennsylvania is in great shape," Cashman said. "It's still the most popular sport in Pennsylvania. We have great turnouts, especially for our successful programs and even for our other programs. We're very proud of our football tradition."

Bob Herman is a fall semester intern in the NFHS Publications/Communications Department. He is a junior at Butler (Indiana) University, majoring in journalism (news editorial) and minoring in Spanish.