The past decade has produced some incredible high school football talent in Pennsylvania and across the United States. MaxPreps put together the best players who took the field from 2010 to 2019.

Where does Pennsylvania rank? Here’s the top 4 teams

California: 19 players

Florida: 12 players

Texas: 11 players

Georgia: 9 players 

Pennsylvania has three players.

The most recent player from the Class of 2020 to make the list is Ohio State’s Julian Fleming. While at Southern Columbia, he amassed 5,514 yards receiving and 77 touchdowns. His team won three consecutive state titles and 10 overall.

From the Class of 2018, Micah Parsons out of Harrisburg makes the list. In his career he had over 240 tackles, 64.5 tackles for loss and 42.5 sacks. On offense he rushed for over 1,200 yards and 29 touchdowns his senior season. 

Clairton’s Lamont Wade (Class of 2017) rushed for over 7,000 yards and 117 total touchdowns. On defense, he had 14 interceptions,.

Wade and Parsons play at Penn State.

Click here to view the full list on MaxPreps. 

PSFCA Big 33- and East-West

Statement by Garry Cathell

It is with great regret that the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association will be Cancelling all our Major Events around the Memorial Day Weekend. These events include the Big 33 Football Classic, East West Game, PSFCA Combine, USA Football 1^st Down Clinic, Military Murph Competition, and the Big 33 Fan Experience.

Due to the Corona Virus constraints placed upon each individual and the business’s that help make the event one of the best in the country, we cannot hold the event as we normally due. The importance to our participants, families, workers, and fans safety is top priority with the PSFCA when holding events.

The PSFCA will be contacting all the entities associated with the game and we are in the process of investigating ways that we can honor all the 2020 athletes.  Each of them should be very proud to have been chosen and they are now part of the Big 33 and EW family.

We will begin looking forward to our planning for the 2021 Games. The events will be bigger and better then they have ever been.  The Big 33 is such a storied event and the PSFCA will help continue its Rich Tradition.

Please all of you stay Healthy and Safe.

George School is looking for an opponent October 24th. We would prefer a home game but can also travel.  If interested, please contact Dom Gregorio at dgregorio@georgeschool.org.

Coatesville HS is in need of a football scrimmage for 2020 (we are looking for 5A or a 6A school). If interested, please contact Brian Chenger at chengerb@casdschools.org.

William Penn Charter School is now looking for an opponent for week #6 (October 9/10 weekend). We are a co-ed Quaker school with an upper school enrollment of 450 students, located in Philadelphia. Please contact AD Ed Foley at efoley@penncharter.com or HFC Tom Coyle at tcoyle@penncharter.com

Massillon Washington High School has the following open dates for the 2021 season. Week 1 (8/27), Week 3 (9/10), Week 5 (9/24), Week 7 (10/08) and Week 8 (10/15). If interested, please contact Nate Moore at nmoore1@massillonschools.org.

Father Judge HS is looking for multiple Freshman Football games in the month of September. Please contact fmcardle@fatherjudge.com if interested. Also we have an opening the week of 10/2 for Varsity.

Hammonton High NJ is looking for a game on 9/4/2020 and if interested contact Coach Raso at Jraso@hammontonps.org.

Jan Johnson has always made his own opportunities. Coming out of Governor Mifflin as a 6-foot-2, 195-pound linebacker, he received two offers: Akron and Fordham. The problem was, Johnson had dreams of playing for Penn State.

So, he made it happen—not on the greatest of terms, but on his terms.

Johnson wound up gaining 40 pounds in his time at Penn State. He wound up earning a psychology degree in August 2018 and a master’s in management and organizational leadership in May 2019.

And the self-made Johnson wound up going from preferred walk-on status at Penn State to being a two-year starter at middle linebacker.

Now, the 2015 Governor Mifflin graduate is living another dream, beginning in a way he’s perfected, signing as an undrafted free agent with the Houston Texans, under former Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien. The New Orleans Saints, the New York Jets and Tennessee Titans also showed interest in Johnson, before he signed with the Texans.

Johnson actually loved the process that led to this next stage.

“You speak to the coaches over the phone and you go through the process like everyone else, and I really enjoyed it,” said Johnson, who turned 24 on April 9. “But the scrutiny that you undergo is no different than coming out of high school.

“You’re going to get that ‘You’re too slow,’ or ‘You’re not any good this,’ or ‘You’re not any good at that.’ You just have to get the opportunity to prove people wrong. I just want to get my foot in the door.”

Johnson didn’t carry his phone with him over the weekend, enjoying the time at home as best as he could during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

Johnson is being projected as a linebacker by the Texans, and he’s in favor of playing special teams, which he played at Penn State on punt and kickoff return for the Nittany Lions. He’s not afraid of running down the field with his hair on fire, slamming into brick walls.

“I love that,” Johnson said. “I’m willing to get on the field any way I can. I want to try and play football for as long as I can. I do see the sacrifice that pro football players go through. As long as you’re the hammer, you’re good and there are right ways and wrong ways to play the game.

“I think overall I play the right way. I can look back at my career at Penn State, I just wanted to find a spot on the field, and I wound up becoming a captain and a two-year starter on the field. Going into the weekend, I hoped to get drafted.”

Johnson has sound advice for high school players who are thinking of taking the same course he did. He’s never let anyone define him. No major schools recruited him out of high school. Still, he played for a Big Ten program.

“It is possible, but you have to find a balance and find where you belong, and I felt like I belonged at Penn State,” Johnson said. “I am 6-foot-2½ and I had the size to gain more weight coming out of high school. I walked on, but I wasn’t small, either.

“You have to be willing to work and prove that you belong. My scenario worked, but as a young kid, you need to look at the roster, see what is happening at that college, and look where you fit, in terms of position and what’s happening at that school.

“I would say to any kid today playing high school football to be realistic. You can’t be 5-foot-9, 175 pounds and be realistic about playing Division I football as a middle linebacker. For someone like that, it’s best to go to a Division III school, get some film, and if a growth spurt comes and you become a monster, they’ll find you.

“You have to know who you are and what you can do, and see where that fits with schools that you’re looking at. You can go from a walk-on to a scholarship player, and beyond. It worked for me.”

Collingswood High School NJ is looking for a team to play @ Ocean City NJ on 9/4 at 6 pm.  We are a group 2 school with about 45 kids on the roster.  We are looking to play a School same school size. Any interest please email Head Coach Michael McKeown at McKeownabc@gmail.com

All-Star Game: The 86th Scranton Lions Club Dream Game

When: 07/23/20

Where: John Henzes/Veterans Memorial Stadium

County Team

City Team

On Wednesday, league officials voted 19-5 (one abstention) to approve 13 schools from Berks County to join the 24 L-L League teams. All 13 Berks Schools will join the L-L League starting in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 seasons. The merger will lead to a 37-team league.

Lancaster-Lebanon Teams (24)

Annville-Cleona

Cedar Crest

Cocalico

Columbia

Conestoga Valley

Donegal

ELCO

Elizabethtown

Ephrata

Garden Spot

Hempfield

Lampeter-Strasburg

Lancaster Catholic

Lebanon

Manheim Central

Manheim Township

McCaskey

Northern Lebanon

Octorara

Penn Manor

Pequea Valley

Solanco

Warwick

Wilson (3)

Berks Teams (13)

Berks Catholic

Conrad Weiser

Daniel Boone

Exeter

Fleetwood

Governor Mifflin

Hamburg

Kutztown

Muhlenberg

Reading

Schuylkill Valley

Twin Valley

Wyomissing

“Here’s a look back at 65 – seasons of Pennsylvania High School Football through the eyes of Kmac”

The 1990 season would be my 40^th tour and I thought I should commemorate it by trying to set a record for number of games seen. After all, who knew if there would be a 50^th? This would mean seeing games I might not otherwise be interested in, but if I could get to a game I should do it. I saw 32 games and I have never even tried to match it since.

I saw all 16 teams that I follow as indicated: 6 times – CB East and CB West; 5 times – Bensalem, Neshaminy, Pennsbury, Archbishop Wood; 4 times – Truman; 3 times – Council Rock, Tennent, Abington, North Penn; 2 times – Norristown, Pennridge, Bristol; once – Morrisville & Bishop Egan.

My Bensalem buddy was well-known at both Bensalem and Neshaminy and by chance obtained Suburban One League passes at both schools. About a month into the season I received one of those passes from him by mail. Talk about a help to accomplish my mission of seeing a record number of games, WOW! The free entrance was really not the key element for having a pass. The pass would let you enter the fields anytime if there were no closed gates and many fields were not, and this allowed kibitzing with coaches if they were at leisure pregame just for a short period. It also would allow you entrance at sold-out games, standing room only sometimes, but not a problem. From one source or another, I would have a pass for 12 of my 16 “golden years” of high school football.

I opened at CB West this season as my Lansdale buddy and father and I caught the Souderton Big Red in town. Troy Myers was a threat for Souderton, but the Bucks’ were too strong and well-prepared. An 80+ yard interception return for CB West, and two Matt Soncini long TD punt returns sealed the deal 35-6 CB West.

The second West challenge at home was Plymouth-Whitemarsh who just missed beating West in 1989 by a point 9-10. So guess what happened this year – CB West won by a point 14-13. We were impressed by the Colonials; I logged that I thought they outplayed the Bucks, but lost by a PAT kick that was true in line, but just short, under the goal post at the hospital end (north) of the field. I noted that the Bucks’ were 2-0 but “needed work”.

My wife accompanied me in several early games this year; she had developed a fondness for the game and she liked the bands and cheerleader routines as well as the game; but she knew what was going on in the games. As I was once a band and drum corps snare drummer, the bands always interested me too. I began to make some notes on those as well as the games at times.

I noted on Sunday October 14, 1990 that heavy rains caused me to pass on North Catholic (0 – for) at Bishop Egan (0-4-1) Saturday night after the Pennsbury game. Dougherty was at Wood that Sunday, but a wet basement and cleanup from the heavy rains caused me to pass on this one too. I noted my record would have to be 35 instead of 37; so I had pre-planned a very heavy slate, which ended up at 32 as I mentioned.

After the first weekend of the season, I caught the next 6 consecutive games of CB East this year. They had opened with a 7-0 win over Bishop Coughlin. Then I saw them beat Wood at home 28-6, LaSalle at home 28-12, at Council Rock 24-12, home for Bensalem 21-7 and Truman 14-6. Finally I saw them at Pennsbury where the streak ended in a 6-14 loss to the Falcons. While finishing 8-3-1 they lost to CB West this season 7-8.

The signature game of the year this season was Saturday Oct 6 Council Rock at CB West. You could feel it in the air. Across the field on the CR side the crowd was pumped and electric. When the game started the team demonstrated the same emotion. The Rock’s Tom Coleman, a junior, lit up this night. He returned the opening kickoff 58 yards, deep into West territory. During the game he caught two passes for TDs and threw a halfback option pass for another TD. He also ran for a 15-yard score. At one point in the game the score was 40-11 Council Rock. CB West recovered in the second half to make the final 40-33, but I never again saw such an assault on the Bucks by a team even though said team might have beaten them. Once again this single loss, the Bucks ended 10-1, cost them a shot at the playoffs. Ridley posted an 11-0 regular season, beat Wilson West Lawn 14-12 and then lost to North Allegheny 14-21 in the final.

State championships on the field had now been played for three seasons. When they were first announced, many of us “just fans” in the east had much apprehension about the storied competition the west would bring to the table. I still admire the WPIAL for its impressive cast of power football schools across (formerly) all four classes. I was surprised that after three championship series, the east held a slim win edge 7-5 for the 12 games played. But the east had not cracked the big 4A class in three tries, so far. Tracking the state championships became another part of my high school football hobby.

The next day my wife and I visited Tennent to see LaSalle and Wood for a Sunday matchup. It was a 26-7 Explorer victory, but with this game and the fact I had seen LaSalle-CB East earlier, I had two looks at the Explorers 6-8, 275 pound defensive tackle, Kevin Conlin. He was a member of the football-playing Conlin family, the most prominent being Chris that went on to Penn State and the NFL. Only in 2016 did I learn I had seen another coach play – Kevin will lead Abington in 2016.

On Saturday Nov 3 I journeyed to Abington’s field which was then a day-only, old field off of Huntingdon Road near Susquehanna Road. I met my Lansdale buddy and his dad there for the CB West visit.

The Bucks’ won 17-7, but the reason that I mentioned this game is that with it I broke my previous game-viewing record of 27 (1977); this was my 28^th this season. This was my first visit to this field, but not my last.

Only on Thanksgiving did I finally reach my goal of seeing every team I logged and of all teams it was my alma mater, Morrisville – at Bristol. I had seen Bristol earlier, but it was my first Bulldog viewing of the year. My Lansdale buddy and his dad, my brother-in-law (my sister’s husband) and I took the trip, but the Bulldogs came out on the short end 6-35. Bristol senior QB Jerry Devine went over 1,000 yards for the season during the game.

And Turkey Day was my 32^nd game this year out of a possible 37 at the start. I will never beat this number, although I have come close without consciously planning a few times.

Suburban One League realignment was the big issue for 1991. While not the reason in publicity, H S Truman and Pennridge were struggling in their National Conference divisions and both dropped to the Sub One Liberty Division for 1991. The remaining 10 large-school teams were lumped in one National Division. This was Abington, Bensalem, CB East, CB West, Council Rock, Neshaminy, Norristown, North Penn, Pennsbury, and William Tennent. It got the colloquial title “Power 10 Conference” in some circles.

I rearranged my records pages accordingly for the new alignment and dropped Pennridge from my records. My thinking at the time was that it was not an original lower Bucks County school, which was the first rule of my keeping teams in my records. Over the years I vacillated on when to keep records and when to drop schools. Sometimes it was keep only Bucks County Schools, sometimes it was only lower Bucks County Schools. I have never tracked Palisades, which, while in Bucks County, plays in a District 11 league.

Again about the fourth week of the season a Suburban One League pass arrived by mail from my Bensalem buddy. Except for PCL or Bicentennial/Independence games, they would be all free.

My Lansdale buddy’s father and I opened the tour with Bishop Coughlin at CB East. I talked to an old bank customer of mine at some length, whose son was a big lineman for CB East. I was starting to experience the social value of these games more and more with the company and people I would run into. The Patriots of CB East won the game 28-8.

The following Friday night I journeyed to Souderton and met my Lansdale buddy, sans father, for CB West at Souderton. A balanced West attack saw two rushing TDs and two via the airways in a 27-0 shutout of the Big Red. But the Bucks’ were penalized quite a bit, somewhat uncharacteristic for them.

I soloed to the next three games, unusual then, but both buddies were at other games the middle time. Neither of my pals was interested in certain teams and games, but I was going because they were available games.

The big event of 1991 was my Lambertville brother-in-law (he married my wife’s youngest sister) and his new involvement in high school football. He was originally from Nescopeck, PA which is just across the river from Berwick. He wondered if I would be interested in traveling up and seeing a Berwick game. My yes answer was akin to the speed of light.

I was on vacation the week of September when on the 20^th, he and I made the 2-hour plus trek to Berwick. We were going to see Wyoming Area (3-0) at Berwick (2-1, sporting a 25-26 loss to Glen Mills who I had just seen the week before at Pennsbury). Glen Mills had beaten the Falcons 41-17 and dressed about 90 players, big-fast- and talented.

But here at Crispin Field in Berwick it seemed we stepped back to the 1950s. The crowd gathered early, both sides were raucous with catcalls back and forth across the field. The stands were packed. Before the game fireworks were set off behind and on the goal posts.

I had a little notebook with me and made about five pages of notes. I have no idea where this little book got to over the years. Berwick won 34-14 and I was totally impressed with the area, team, crowd, everything. We both planned to come back next season; but we got back again this season!

The following Friday my new Lambertville football buddy joined me and he met both Lansdale and Bensalem buddies at CB West for a 3-0 Neshaminy visit. The Bucks’ handled the Skins 27-0. Greg Moylan was the Bucks fine field general. He ran the O and when he passed it was most times successful. Matt Soncini was a primary receiver. Dave Binder was a bruising FB, but not quite the size of the later Swett, Armstrong and Picciotti. But this Bucks’ squad lived on defense. The names on defense are more anonymous unless of all-state character, but Rob Swett was all-state LB in his junior year at 6-3, 220 pounds. Moylan made third team QB.

My 50^th birthday was the occasion for a surprise birthday party for me in the bank office in which I worked in Newtown, PA on Friday, October 11^th. (Actual birth date is 10/16). Of course it was on a second floor private office area, not a retail banking office. I was totally floored by this with lots of attention by many bank employees above and below my level. And my Lambertville football buddy/brother in law was there and to this day I do not get that connection; there were no other relatives of mine, it was basically a business birthday party. Whatever, he and I left after the festivities for North Penn at CB West to arrive to a dark field and no activity; game postponed until Saturday night. We then quickly departed for Morrisville who I knew was home, hosting Archbishop Kennedy. We took it in, a scrappy little affair, basically 9-7 Saints until late in the game when Kennedy iced it with a TD with 47 seconds left in the game, final 15-7 Kennedy.

We figured on catching the NP-West game Saturday night after the afternoon Pennsbury hosting Council Rock game in which all four buddies – me, Lambertville, Lansdale, and Bensalem attended. This year the Indians Tom Coleman, who destroyed CB West in 1990 was a senior. He got wide open on the first play from scrimmage and QB Albrecht hit him for a 78-yard TD. The Falcons countered on a long drive in their style and it was 7-7. Still in the first quarter Albrecht hit Coleman for 77 yards on the fly, 14-7 Rock at the quarter and at the half. The Falcons tied again in the third quarter, 14-14. In the fourth quarter, the Falcons scored and took their first lead 21-14. We were filing out with about 5 minutes left when Coleman came streaking up the sideline just in front of us, grabbed a perfectly thrown aerial and finished a 90-yard pass/run TD. Albrecht then ran in a 2-point PAT and Rock won the game 22-21.

Now, this game had been a giant deke to keep me out of the house while my wife organized a second huge 50^th surprise party at our home in the basement recreation-room bar.

Both my Lambertville and Lansdale buddies were in on it. This was one to remember and I still do today. Needless to say we did not get to the North Penn-CB West game that night. Most of us actually couldn’t have gotten anywhere that night. Thank goodness all that had to go home; got there safely.

I do get a bit misty though, remembering so many people that are gone since that date almost exactly 24 years ago. (I am writing this portion October 14, 2015).  The next day the wife and I left for a New England vacation.

It occurs to me to shorten my buddy relationships for brevity to Bud 1 (Bensalem); Bud 2 (Lansdale), and Bud 3 (Lambertville); with a sole addition to come a few years later.

On Friday November 1, Bud 3 and I, and two other people (former South Hunterdon H S of Lambertville athletes) motored to Berwick once again for Berwick hosting Wyoming Valley West. Both teams sported 7-2 records. Berwick had since played Central Dauphin and lost 15-17. At the time we were not aware that this was not one of Berwick’s finest teams, both losses were to good teams, but Berwick was used to winning those games. I noted that the Dawgs started only 3 to 5 seniors on both O and D. Obviously this was why the 2 losses this season, and they were close (1 point and 2 points) to good teams; but I said we would definitely have to see Berwick again next season. They had no problem this night, 47-14 over the Spartans.

The next day, home from Berwick, Bud 3, his son – my nephew – and I took in CB West at Council Rock. Remember Rock beat West in 1990 40-33 and the chief culprit was Tom Coleman, now a senior at Rock. Typical of Mike Pettine, the Bucks looked super-prepared to avenge last year’s game and were perfect in control and execution, and out-ran, out-passed, and out-defended the Rock on the way to a 49-7 victory. Rock got a little chippy, highly unusual at that school even though I saw it once before at Tennent. CB West now stood 8-0 on the season.

On November 23 (Saturday) Bud 3 and I journeyed the short run to Council Rock. Bud 1 had called me that morning and said he would be at that game, and he was. In my 41 seasons so far I had never seen Tennent AT Rock before and it was my motivation over the Neshaminy-Pennsbury classic this season. I also thought that would be a blowout this season and it was, 41-0 Pennsbury. This game was much more entertaining.

Tennent consistently moved the ball on the ground with Adcock, Livezy, and Pernsley. Rock’s passing attack this year; especially Albrecht to Coleman also was effective again. But in the end a field goal and one PAT was the difference, 17-13 Council Rock. We bid farewell for the season to Bud 1, as he spent the Thanksgiving period in the Poconos, and he said he was not interested in following CB West if they made the playoffs, which were still elemental; next season district playoffs would be initiated.

My Suburban One League pass got Bud 3 and me into the CB East – CB West Thanksgiving Day game at War Memorial Field this season. It was SRO; an estimated 10,000 in attendance, so we stood at the fence at about the 15-yard line, visitor’s side, school-end of the stadium.

We could see ok, except when the play was down close at our end and a mass of sideline people blocked the view somewhat. West looked a bit sluggish early, and they fell behind 6-7 early and QB Moylan went down with an injury (thankfully, he was back in the game in the 4^th quarter).

By halftime it was 14-7 CB West, and with about 37 seconds remaining in the game CB West’s Patterson hit a field goal to make the final 17-7 Bucks’; completing an 11-0 regular season.

Ridley went 7-4 this year, possibly 6-4 regular season, Interboro (Ridley win) was likely still on Thanksgiving. Coatesville posted a 10-0-1 season with a tie with Henderson marring their chance. Neshaminy was but 4-7. These were the three protagonists that had kept CB West from the first three playoffs. Now it was West’s turn.

On Saturday, December 7 Bud 2 and I journeyed to Lehigh University’s Goodman Stadium to see CB West and Easton butt heads in the PIAA Eastern Championship, or state semi-final. Bud 3 was scheduled to go, but was suffering a back strain and his daughter was ill. Surprisingly, we ran into Bud 1, who had at the last minute decided to come with someone who provided the transportation. I found it mildly amusing that the announcer said that Easton would have the West bleachers and C B West the East bleachers, reversing a part of the name of each team. (Well, you had to be there). According to local Bucks County sources the Easton players had been jawing that the Buck’s had not played anybody like them and another dig that had CB West annoyed. Whether this was true or pre-game hype is unknown to me.

But I did know that Easton was good. Easton was almost always good, going back a long time. This year they were 13-0 coming in, with a playoff win over Pottsville 25-15 included. Their offense averaged 34.8 points per game. CB West averaged 30.5 points per game. The Easton offensive line averaged almost 6-3, 237 pounds. Their chief threat was running back Juan Gaddy, whose career 5,116 rushing yards was tops at Easton through 2013, at least. West’s defense held the edge 4.6 (coming in) to 12.0 for Easton; and as the old cliché goes – “defense wins championships”.

Easton got the opening kickoff and drove the field and scored, but missed the PAT and it was quickly 6-0 Easton, and it looked like they were right on their brag (if it actually happened).

But CB West had a balanced attack running and passing, and I remember one long pass completion on the opposite side of the field that put West in scoring position, I don’t remember when it occurred, but I believe it was the first half. Whatever, the rest of the game was West, soon 7-6 West; then 14-6, 21-6, 28-6, and late in the game 34-6. I do not remember when the PAT was missed in the score progression, but West did get up by four touchdowns. Easton scored again against either the subs, or a relaxed defense. Final 34-12; and CB West would play for a state championship.

Bud 3 and I considered the trip to Altoona for the state championship game, but the 4 to 5 hour ride after a rainy Friday continuing into Saturday game day precluded a go.

CB West went on to win the state AAAA Championship 26-14 over Erie Cathedral Prep of D10. Key was that it was the first eastern team to win in 4A, the first District One team to win at states, the first Suburban One team to win at states, and the first Bucks County team to win at states. All of this was significant to me if not the world. One would have to notice that it was not a WPIAL team West beat.

I made 26 games in 1991; saw five new teams – Bishop Coughlin, Glen Mills, Berwick, Wyoming Area and Wyoming Valley West; saw my first PIAA playoff game; got to 2 new stadiums – Crispin Field and Goodman Stadium; and saw a state champion play – CB West.

Big for 1992 was the beginning of elemental district playoffs. They were not fully developed, but it was a start. On a closer note, Council Rock and Morrisville fielded their best teams in a while; but those two and CB West were the only teams posting outstanding records this year.

To open this season I picked up Bud 2 in Hatfield and we journeyed to Poppy Yoder field for C B East at Pennridge. This was a good opener. East took a 10-0 lead. And they maintained it long – at 10-7, 17-7, 17-14, and 20-14. But late in the game Pennridge had moved ahead 21-20. With 3 minutes left in the game, CB East kicked a field goal and held on to win the game 23-21.

Next day, Bud 3 and my nephew joined Bud 1 at his Bensalem main post for Truman at Bensalem. Here Bensalem AD and Morrisville Alum Bob Hart awarded me my own Suburban One League pass; my first direct pass, not second hand from Bud 1. Bensalem won the game handily 28-8.

Second week of the season Friday I picked up Bud 3 and his son in Lambertville and we met Bud 2’s father and Bud 1 at Doylestown for defending state champ CB West’s opener with Souderton. A good game, CB West extended their reign, 21-6. I noted the Buck’s running game and defense as very good and a lack of passing. But sophomore QB Snyder was subbing for an ailing senior QB Bill Marsland and this was not known to me at the time.

I noted the first three games to illustrate that there was now a gang of five including me, and that for most games there was some combination of the five that I eventually called my “posse”. Lansdale Bud 2’s father was the fifth, and not as often member, but sometimes it was just he and I. It was most unfortunate that we were soon to lose him. I was not consciously aware at the time of how much this “posse” social end of the game would mean to me. Only Bud 3 was family, but when we gathered at games, it all seemed liked family.

On the fourth week of the season we made a pre-planned trip to Berwick to see the 1992 edition of the Dawgs. A foursome that included me, Bud 3, Bud 2, and one of the foursome from Lambertville that had gone with us to the second game of 1991. This was an away game at West Pittston against Wyoming Area. This was the time that I have mentioned in other stories that we met and talked with HC George Curry as he walked alone around the track near where we were pregame, and he stopped for a couple of minutes to talk to us. We told him where we were from and had come all this way to see his Dawgs.

He seemed pleased at this and asked if we knew Mike Pettine at CB West which we assured him we did. Bud 2 was the talker among us and the one that had such amazing memory of high school football and drum corps. He had introduced me to Mike Pettine at CB West in his office on some occasion that we were at the school, but school was not in, although there was a lot of activity there. After that we talked with Mike on many occasions, but never at a West practice.

Berwick won the game in West Pittston 28-0. Ron Powlus was the QB and he revealed a quick accurate release on pinpoint passing.

On vacation and my 51^st birthday, Oct 16, 1992 I was in Berwick again, with my wife and Bud 3 (my brother-in-law) and his wife, my wife’s youngest sister. The distaff side decided they wanted to see Berwick football too. This night the Dawgs were tested by the red and silver clad Cougars of Hazleton Area.

Fast Cougar backs likely had the better stats in the game, but Berwick led 7-6 in the 3^rd quarter. Then Ron Powlus broke a 70+ yard keeper up the home sideline to ice it 14-6 Berwick.

The Bensalem-Pennsbury game was good this year, a back and forth affair at Bensalem viewed by my wife and I and Bud 1’s wife and he. The final was 28-25 Bensalem who had a 6-4 season while Pennsbury finished 6-3-1 this season.

I decided to check out my old alma mater on Halloween night at 6-1 against Jenkintown in Morrisville. This Dog edition was for real and was under Chuck Knowles. Many years later I met Chuck courtesy of a Morrisville classmate of mine, who would become Bud 4. Usually a strong running team, tonight the QB was 5 for 5 passing for both TDs and there were two 2-pt PATs to make the final Morrisville 16-0. This Bulldog team ended 10-2. They were the first class A District 1 champions, 22-6 over Jenkintown again. But in the early PIAA playoff system, they could advance no further on point ratings. This was the only 10-win season in the Dogs’ history. Their offensive average was 2^nd of the 15 teams I followed at 20.3, behind CB West’s 23.5. And their defense was also second to West – 8.8 Morrisville to 8.0 CB West.

CB West got the home field advantage for the playoff round against Coatesville. Bud 3 and I sat with a fellow banker acquaintance of mine, who was also a former Neshaminy Redskin. In a way these were mirror-image teams living on the run and good, burly defenses. I do not think the Red Raiders threw one pass; the Bucks’ had to when their run game was halted. At the half Coatesville led 12-6. In the third quarter West got the equalizer and it was 12-12. Then Coatesville’s speedy Washington broke a 50 yard run on a delayed handoff up the gut. The final was19-12 Coatesville and it was the end of West’s current 29-game win streak.

For the first time three of the posse took in a playoff game not involving local teams on December 5^th. For some reason my brother-in-law knew right where Villanova Stadium was and he and I, and Bud 2 motored there in his van.

It was to see the Coatesville-Cumberland Valley state 4A semi final, or Eastern Championship. These two had met in a regular season game and CV had beaten the Raiders 28-19, the Raiders only loss of the season to date.

Cumberland Valley featured a running attack with occasional aerials. And FB Jon Ritchie at 6-3 235 pounds was a battering ram. The line was big and stud-like; and all-state along with Ritchie was lineman Brian Potteiger 6-3 230; and specialist Corey Gumby.

The result was about the same as the first game between these two – 22-6 Cumberland Valley. Ritchie went on to Michigan and Stanford and 94 games in the NFL with Oakland and the Eagles.

I saw 28 games in 1992, two PIAA playoffs, saw the D1 class A champion play regular season, and saw two state champions play, Berwick 3A and Cumberland Valley 4A. I had a league pass for the third consecutive season, and I got to two new stadiums- West Pittston and Villanova University. Two new teams I saw were Hazleton and Cumberland Valley. I had company at almost every game, a nice social factor and slow-time ennui reducer.

The East swept the state championships in all four classes, the only time that this has happened by either side 1988-2015. Cumberland Valley, Berwick, Valley View, and Scotland School all won gold for the east.

I was cranked to keep the football season going, and added off-season notes to my records. One was that the Philadelphia Archdiocese was closing Archbishop Kennedy and merging Kennedy-Kenrick. More locally, the present Tullytown Bishop Egan High School would be moving and merging with all-girl Bishop Conwell as Conwell-Egan High in 1993. Enrollment shrinkage issue was the big concern with the costs involved of the open schools.

I had no way of knowing, nor any concept of it at the time; but the year of 1992 would cap my “company” at games years at 89% of the games this season, just up from 88% the prior season.

I would never reach that percentile again, but still enjoyed percentages in the 80s and high 70’s for several more seasons of my “golden period” yet.

Sources:

Don Black’s various individual high school record books.

Pennsylvania Football News annual resource guides.

“Here’s a look back at 65 – seasons of Pennsylvania High School Football through the eyes of Kmac”

The 1970 decade got off to a great start for me, I thought I was going to be back to high school football. I was offered a ride to the Pennsbury at Coatesville opener by an older fellow banker who was a great Falcon follower. A beautiful warm late summer Saturday provided what seemed like a long ride from Fairless Hills. The field at Coatesville was not the beautiful stadium of today, but a nice rural-feeling field not far off local Route 30. There were stands, but we stood at the sidelines which was available without fencing. The game was solidly Pennsbury this season, 39-0 as the Red Raiders would have a poor 2-9 season in 1970. I believe this was known as Scott Field, and future all-stater (1972) Able Joe was a sophomore for the Red Raiders and already very good.

In the end I saw four Falcon games and one Morrisville game that season, a total of five. I missed a good Neshaminy club that went 9-1-1 with the loss 6-22 to Liberty and the tie 7-7 with Pennsbury who finished 7-3-1. At least 5 games in one season were better than the 6 games seen all of 1966-1969. Woodrow Wilson also posted a 9-1-1 slate in 1970 and was joining the big time in scheduling and beating Coatesville (48-0), Wyoming Valley West (28-14), Johnstown (43-14), and J F K, NJ (33-22). The Wilson Golden Rams sole loss was to Neshaminy 6-17, and they tied with Bishop Egan 14-14.

I notice that I began marking games “heard” in large numbers in 1970 in my written records. I am sure I listened to games before that on WBUD or WBCB radio, but now that I was not able to attend games I was logging that I had at least listened to them. At least it was involvement, and being to most of the stadiums before, I could get a good mental picture as the games unfolded over the radio. I heard 6 Wilson games, 5 Neshaminy, 6 Pennsbury, and a smattering of other teams as well. Television provided the Bishop Egan-Phila Central City Championship game, won by Central 13-7 which I watched.

Missing arguably the best Neshaminy team pre-state championship era was a big lament of 1971. I wrote an article on this team for a 2015 March edition of Throwback Thursday for easternPAfootball. The Skins went 11-0 winning most games by at least three touchdowns, except the annual Pennsbury match which they did win 21-17; coming from behind. This team put three first-team all state selections (UPI) in end Dale Forchetti, center Chuck Lodge, and QB Pete Cordelli (“Jr” – generation not class). All three also made the AP all-state on three different echelons.

I saw only three games, two Morrisville (9-2 season) and one Pennsbury (9-2 season). But I heard a lot of games on radio. The Section II small school division of the LBCL had gone through numerous changes with teams entering since the early sixties.

But I was obviously by now taken by the big school programs with the big bands, crowds, hype, etc, and was moving away from the small schools. This would continue and grow, but I was glad to see my Bulldogs have a fine 9-2 turn in 1971.

William Tennent made a major change for the 1971 season. They had been locked into a 4-team league with Neshaminy, Pennsbury, and Wilson for most of the time, and recently Council Rock and Bensalem were added; then Council Rock went independent for a short period, leaving a 5-team league. Long and short of it, Tennent was up against it every year, never winning the title, and highest finish was a tie for second with Wilson at 1-1-1 league for 1967. Most of the time Tennent was at the bottom, holding up the rest of the league.

Although I do not believe that the administration at Tennent made a decision based solely on football, Tennent was the first team to leave the old Lower Bucks County League for another league (Council Rock left and went independent for 1968-1970, but came back in 1971); and Tennent moved to the Suburban One League for 1971. Sub One in 1971 was a 10-team league of Abington, Cheltenham, Methacton, Norristown, Plymouth-Whitemarsh, Springfield (Montco), Upper Dublin, Upper Merion, Upper Moreland, and William Tennent.

Tennent maintained its long relationship (rivalry of sorts) with Council Rock for the last game of the season. For the 1971 season Tennent was 0-10, last in the league, and lost to Rock 8-30; go figure. But Tennent would have their day in football down the road, and as I said; I do not think the move was only for football reasons.

In the fall of 1971 we moved out of Bucks County to New Egypt, NJ to accommodate my first wife’s love of horses. We bought an 8-acre farm with stable facilities and began to own and stable horses for others. Now more than ever did I depend on radio for my football interest.

In 1972 I did see one game of one of the best teams to ever come out of the Pennsbury Falcon nest. It was the second game at home with Bethlehem Freedom, a 14-10 Falcon victory. In addition I listened to every other Falcon game on radio except Easton for some reason. This team under Chuck Kane in his third season was the first-ever undefeated Falcon team. Dale Delise was UPI all-state at running back and Ron Dundala was AP all-state at Linebacker. Players from this team ended up playing in colleges – Memphis State, Pitt, Dayton, Vanderbilt, Penn, Franklin & Marshall, Georgia, Lafayette, Indiana U of P, Duke, Dickinson, and Princeton.

But I only saw 2 games in 1972; and 3 in 1973 as distance, along with of all things – a national gasoline shortage – was now another factor in keeping me out of the sport. The 1973 games were all three at Morrisville (8-2 season), as I still worked there and probably tied it with staying in town before going home to New Egypt. I did hear most of the Pennsbury games who posted another fine 9-1-1 season, with one of their best defensive teams ever. These Falcons shut out 8 of their 11 opponents. The three teams that scored on them were Wilson (21), Allen (13), and Bensalem (6). Wilson was the one loss 20-21; the tie was 0-0 with Liberty. They posted a defensive average of 3.64 for the season.

The years of 1974 and 1975 were the only two years to that time in my hobby that I saw ONLY a single game in each year. Unfortunately, there would be two more such years later in my hobby.

Both years it was Morrisville, whose teams were playing decent ball again and the games were intriguing for one reason or another. One was a Thanksgiving game postponed to the Saturday after (1975). With a better record coming in the Bulldogs lost to Bristol 0-9.

I missed another great Falcon team in 1974, 11-0-0 again. I did listen to all 11 games on the radio, not quite the same as being there. This team sent Frank Prior, center, and Randy Wagner, defensive tackle, to all-state (AP).

And in 1975 I missed the turnaround for the William Tennent Panthers and their move to the Suburban One League when they went 8-0-2 and won the league title (8-0-1). They tied Springfield 7-7, but Springfield also tied another league team and ended 7-0-2. Tennent’s other tie was non-league with Council Rock 6-6.

By the 1976 high school football season I was a single man again, living temporarily in Morrisville, and among all the other proceedings going on, I set my sights to have a mighty football season. And I did just that, catching 22 games in person, an all-time record to that date.

But I had for all intents and purposes missed the entire life of the Eastern Big 8 League, which dissolved after the 1975 season. I covered its history as far as the two local teams involved in part 1 for 1966-1969. In 1970 Neshaminy was 2^nd (4-1-1) and Pennsbury 4^th (3-2-1); Liberty won the title at 5-1. Of course the Neshaminy “team of the century” at 11-0 won it all in 1971. Pennsbury’s first undefeated 1972 season capped it for that year. Pennsbury won it again in 1973 at 6-0-1 league. And another undefeated Falcon squad in 1974 won it again. The last Big 8 title went to Bethlehem Liberty in 1975.

The Neshaminy School District split into two high schools for 1976 with the old school being now dubbed Neshaminy Langhorne and the new school was Neshaminy Maple Point. This split lasted until 1983 and as might be expected, neither school had very good seasons until it was all one again. But it was a new school to follow and it played at the Neshaminy stadium. Likely Saturday nights as I did not yet record dates and days in my records, only home or away.

Opportunities to see games were numerous as all fields did not have lights and Saturday afternoon games were common at Pennsbury, Council Rock, Tennent, and for a period Morrisville. Teams sharing fields had to vary days when both teams were home and this made Saturday nights also possible. Delhaas-Wilson-Egan all used the same field. The two Neshaminys’ used the same field, and Central Bucks East and West used the same field, although I barely knew they existed in 1976; seeing CB East in 1976 for the first time I ever saw any Central Bucks school.

I saw 11 teams I had never seen before in 1976 tying 1965 for the most “new” teams in one season to date. These were St. Pius X (Pottstown), Harriton, Ewing (NJ), Harrisburg, Neshaminy Maple Point, Archbishop Ryan, Central Bucks East, St. Joes Prep, Monsignor Bonner, Cardinal Dougherty, and North Catholic.

I got to Council Rock’s new stadium (opened in 1969) for the first time in 1976, still with wooden bleachers for the last year. I saw an 8-1-1 team and four 8-2 teams in 1976, and these were the best records of any of the teams that I followed.

These five teams were Lower Moreland (8-1-1) at Morrisville (8-2) and the Bulldogs administered that only loss to the Lions 16-14 in a good game. Woodrow Wilson was also 8-2 and I saw two of their games; Council Rock was 8-2 and I saw two of their games, and Pennsbury was also 8-2 and I saw 7 of their games. I saw Harrisburg for the first time-ever; twice; at Pennsbury, a 10-6 Falcon victory and the next week at Wilson, a 42-14 Ram victory. The Cougars must have been tired of two back-to-back trips to Bucks County that year.

I was truly inspired by my return to high school football in 1976. I wrote up some notes on the season which was the first time. Previously all seasons were just the records of the teams.

As an example of my earlier comment about the Neshaminy split, Langhorne was 2-8 in 1976, and Maple Point was 4-6. Unlike we see today with the Downingtown’s or the Council Rock’s to a lesser degree, the division of schools back in the 1970’s definitely thinned the Neshaminy talent.

For the Bicentennial year of 1976, Section II, the small school division of the LBCL was renamed the Bicentennial League for the year and it has remained as such ever since. Teams in it in 1976 were Archbishop Kennedy, Bristol, Jenkintown, Lower Moreland, and Morrisville.

In writing this discourse, I realize that I was still viewing high school football as a hobby with the added touch of keeping records that would build each year, accumulating data on win-loss records, offensive and defensive averages, team versus teams’ records, and so on. Seeing the games in beautiful fall weather, the day games in sun with leaves turning red and gold seemed a magical time and place. The night games were not different until the late-season games brought the necessity of bundling up as much as possible to keep warm enough to enjoy the game. There were still no state championships played on the field and I was not concerned in any way in 1976 of state recognition, realizing that Neshaminy and Pennsbury in our area was recognized statewide and satisfied with that. Neither was I a big follower of players moving on to college from local teams after high school. Those mentioned above were not known to me at the time, but now with the hindsight of recorded history we can plot some of their various courses.

For 1977 I would set a new record of games seen – 27, a mark that would stand for 13 years until I deliberately set out to set an all-time mark, and did. Of the 16 teams I followed, in 1977 10 had winning records and I saw 13 of the 16 teams I followed at least once.

But I did not see Lower Moreland this season and so missed seeing future Neshaminy Head Coach Mark Schmidt as senior center and linebacker on defense.

Morrisville provided a 1977 oddity of note. I saw four of their games, all wins and all shutouts. They were Jenkintown 26-0, Harriton 32-0, Archbishop Kennedy 20-0, and Bristol (Turkey Day) 20-0. To my viewing the Bulldogs were world-beaters. The problem was that they lost the 6 games I did not see them play, finishing 4-6.

Outstanding in 1977 was Bensalem under Coach Bob Hart, a Morrisville and Penn State alumnus. I saw them 3 times including the playoff-championship game held at Woodrow Wilson against Neshaminy. It was a bitter cold, breezy night and these two teams got after one another. In the regular season, Neshaminy had handed Bensalem their only loss of the season so far – big 42-14. But the Skins had suffered a regular season loss to sister school Maple Pt. 0-7 making the championship playoff necessary. You could hear the pads and hits from the opposite end zone! When it was over the Bensalem Owls had won it 12-7. The Champions were 10-1, and they did it with defense. The Owls only averaged 16.1 points per game on offense.

But that team only allowed 7.7 points per game on defense. Take out the one-game 42 points given up to Neshaminy and the defensive average falls to 4.3 points per game.

Neshaminy Langhorne had played for, but lost, the league championship and was 7-4 for the season. Maple Point posted another 4-6 season.

Pennsbury had offensive problems in 1977. They won their first three games 22-0, 14-10, and 20-0, and then their O put up in consecutive games 7, 13, 3, 0, 3, 7 and 7; most un-Falcon like. Their defense kept them in the games and produced a 5-4-1 season, winning two more games, one at 13-7 and one at 7-0.

The first 7 points in the streak above was at home against Steelton-Highspire, a game which I took in; and it rained of Biblical proportions that day. Of all 65 years so far I think that was the heaviest downpour I have ever been to a game in, for the longest duration. It was likely the reason for the low no-win score, a tie at 7, but who knows.

My life was to change again in 1978 when in September I met this girl. The song, “The Second Time Around” would be most appropriate, but for this discourse let’s just say my 1978 season was somewhat less active than the prior two seasons. I got to 13 games, about half the 27 of 1977. Four new teams were seen – Penn Charter, Cardinal O’Hara, Abington, and Valley Forge Military Academy. The latter team had joined the Bicentennial League in 1976.

An anecdote this season was in the third game of the year for Bensalem at home against Bishop Egan. After their 1977 10-1 league championship year and coaching change, the Owls were 0-2 coming in to this 1978 game. I sat on the Bensalem side and the cheerleaders were gathering near enough to me that I could hear the casual conversations among them.

A senior cheerleader said, “last year we were great and I can’t believe now in my senior year we’re screwing it up”! I chuckled to myself, but this young lady was prophetic, the Owls finished 0-11 in 1978.

I was now entering a second down period for my high school viewing hobby for all different reasons than the first time. I took an apartment in Lambertville, NJ in May 1979 and by the 1979 season was again slightly out of the area.

Lambertville held much interest for me in 1979; the girl I had met lived there, and I had played in the Lambertville Senior Drum & Bugle Corps since 1968; and still did at that time. This was not the field competition corps I was in 1961-1963.

I attended four games in 1979 – Bishop Egan 27-0 at Bensalem; Delhaas 0-47 at Neshaminy Langhorne; Plymouth-Whitemarsh 12-13 at Pennsbury; and Archbishop Ryan 35-13 at Archbishop Wood, played at Council Rock High School. It was my first-ever viewing of Plymouth-Whitemarsh.

As to winning games, the 1970’s belonged to Frankford of Philadelphia, not yet in the PIAA, but with a 99-15-2 record.

Locally the C B West Bucks under Mike Pettine since 1963 posted a 90-14-2 record for best in District One; and 4^th in the state. Second in D1 and 9^th in the state, Ridley posted a 1970’s slate of 81-14-4.

For the first time since the decade of the 1900’s Lower Merion had a losing decade at 42-59 in the 1970’s. Up in District 4 Mount Carmel continued their winning ways finishing the 1970s at 96-18-1, second in the state to Frankford. And the Dawgs of Berwick were just warming up with a 77-34-2 decade and preparing for even greater things.

I was oblivious to all of this in 1979 as I became involved in house hunting for 1980.

Sources:

Don Black’s various individual high school record books.

Pennsylvania Football News annual resource guides.

Pennsbury High School Football website – history.

“Here’s a look back at 65 – seasons of Pennsylvania High School Football through the eyes of Kmac”

The season of 1980 would be my 30^th season of high school football. But in May 1980 I bought the home I still live in; in Washington Crossing, PA; and was in it only 3 months come football season. In order to swing it I had to take three jobs temporarily to please the mortgage people and prove that I could do it; I never had a doubt. But one of the three jobs took Friday nights and Saturdays, some Sundays and even Holidays, and my primary bank job was also working late Friday nights and some Saturdays as well. The third job I did in about an hour before getting in to the bank in the morning. In addition, in a few years, I would have a pager that called me out any time before 11 at night and anytime weekends for Automatic Teller Machine needs. There was obviously no time for high school football.

So I repeated the two-year one-game each year cycle of 1974-1975 again in 1980-1981.

The one game I saw in 1980 was C B West at Pennsbury. It was not my first viewing of CB West; I had seen them in 1977 at Council Rock, a 33-0 West win. I remember the pregame write up for Pennsbury indicating that both teams were first class, but that C B West “played at another level” quoted by the late Dick Dougherty, an icon of high school sports in Lower Bucks County. I said I had to see this game and I did on a Saturday afternoon at Falcon Field. The Bucks won 28-13.

Now I know that I hit a very low point when I gaze at what I wrote just before the 1981 season in my main ledger of records:

“Changes once again will probably make this the last year of records-keeping for me. By summer of 1981 it was official that the Lower Bucks County League would dissolve after the 1981 season and the schools would become part of the Suburban One league. Additionally, the Bristol Twp. Schools Delhaas and Woodrow Wilson were closed and for 1981 will be Harry S. Truman H S, I believe physically in the old Wilson School.”

Just as I wrote it in 1981. I was also too heavily worked then to consider picking up the new teams that would make up the new league in two divisions. It was long before the PC-based websites for obtaining scores also, and I reported having trouble getting some for my records.

I mentioned more changes, Lansdale Catholic coming into the Bicentennial League and Lower Moreland leaving for a Sub One conference.

And more changes, Morrisville was shunning night games for 1981, a tradition dating to 1951; for Saturday afternoon contests. And Archbishop Wood that had provided me with Saturday and Sunday games at Council Rock was switching to Tennent for 1981.

I think with my three job routine plus the pager for all but 11 PM to 7 AM hours, I was near exhaustion; had to be the only reason that I would ever consider stopping my high school football hobby.

The one game I attended in 1981 was the Morrisville-Bristol Thanksgiving Day classic at Morrisville won by the Bulldogs 32-14.

Sometime during the 1981 season, on the sheet that I wrote all of the negative things; I wrote a note saying that I had easily navigated the 1981 season for data; and that I would probably reconsider what I wrote; and I did. By a hair, I continued to collect records for local teams.

I should also mention that on Valentine’s Day 1981 I married that Lambertville girl that I had met in September 1978, and finally met my true soul-mate. The second time around indeed! While she was not a football fan originally, she now is; mostly the pros, but she was very instrumental in getting me back to my hobby in a big way when it seemed I was losing it; and she did this more than once, too!

The next big life trauma was my first-ever possible job disruption, because the bank for which I worked since 1959 was merged into a much bigger, although still regional, bank over the New Year’s weekend 1981-1982. I maintained my position, but it meant considerable more pressure in my primary job. Eventually the other two jobs I held would have to go, and besides my wife and I now had her income input as well. But the pressure and hours, long hours necessary for my primary job would still keep me from much high school football for a few more years yet.

I had not seen William Tennent in years and I planned to see them in 1982, and I did for the only two games that I saw that year. I saw them at Truman, a 27-6 win which was also my first ever viewing of the Harry S. Truman Tigers. Then I saw the Panthers at Neshaminy, and they won 27-21. In fact Tennent beat all five of their old LBCL foes in 1982, the first year they were all in the Suburban One League. In addition to the two I saw, the Panthers beat Bensalem 34-6, Pennsbury 20-14, and Council Rock 41-21 in games I did not see.

Both Neshaminy Langhorne and Neshaminy Maple Point (in their last season) were 1-9 in 1982. In fact the former LBCL teams did not fare well their first season in the Suburban One. All the old Sub One teams – Abington, Norristown, and Tennent were ahead of all of them in the final league standings. The only win of an old LBCL team was Council Rock’s 17-7 victory over Norristown. Maple Point spent its last season before closing in the American Conference of smaller schools. Maple Point may have closed entirely for a while, or operated as a Middle School as it does in present times.

My employment situation continued through 1983 and it was just two games again that season. The first weekend of the season I caught the traditional Friday night opener Bishop Egan at Neshaminy.

Although Neshaminy was back to a single school and team in 1983, it didn’t help much, the Skins lost to Egan 6-21, and posted a 2-8 season. The next day I caught Pennsbury’s opener at Falcon Field with Easton. Pennsbury won 19-0 on the way to an 8-3 season.

Pennsbury, Tennent, and Bishop Egan all posted 8-3 records for the 1983 season.

Both Pennsbury and Tennent ended up with a league record of 6-1 and a playoff was held at Bensalem for the league championship. While Pennsbury had beaten Tennent in the regular season 17-0, the Falcons had slipped to Norristown 0-7. In the championship game which I heard on the radio, William Tennent won the league championship 19-6.

By 1984 my job situation had loosened just a bit; but not enough that I jumped right into the 1984 football season. But my wife had come to the bank to work and she was good friends with the head teller whose son was playing for a decent Morrisville team this season. Slowly during the season she decided it would be fun to go to the Morrisville games.

Our first game was home with Jenkintown and Morrisville came in 4-2. Jenkintown was 3-1. Morrisville won the game 26-7. Next it was a Saturday night game versus Lansdale Catholic in Crawford Stadium. I had been there in the past for drum & bugle corps shows as a fan twice, but never for football. The Crusaders were too tough for the Bulldogs, 17-0 LC. Springfield was home next and they came in 4-2. But the Bulldogs won 35-19. Next it was Chestnut Hill home on a Saturday afternoon. CHA had an end or wide receiver that was nothing short of great. He caught anything thrown in his direction, but you can’t throw every down. Morrisville pulled out a squeaker 34-31. The Thanksgiving day game was at Bristol this season and we went. Never a sure thing even though Bristol came in 1-8 this year. But the Bulldogs did prevail 33-6 to wrap up a nice 8-3 season. The Bulldogs had the top offense of the 15 teams I followed that year with 27.9 points per game average. The head teller’s son that I mentioned above went on to coach at C B East where I met him in later years. I also saw the annual Neshaminy-Pennsbury game at Neshaminy this season won by Pennsbury who capped an 8-2 season with the 12-0 win.

So my 6 games in 1984 totaled the sum of the previous 4 years combined (1-1-2-2), and I felt good about high school football again. Thank you, Mrs. Kmac.

In the spring of 1985 I was offered a bank promotion that took me out of retail banking and into what would again be a 9-5, Monday through Friday job (in theory) again. Although there were extra times and meetings, etc., I could pretty much schedule them myself, and the window to high school football was again opened wide.

Now, since about 1968, football had been pretty much a solitary hobby. I went to games myself and occasionally would meet someone I knew at a game. From the beginning in 1951 to my joining the high school band in 1955, there was always a crowd at home games with folks that I knew; and I only went to two away games those early years (1 in 1953 and 1 in 1954).

Relatives were involved in seeing both away games. The band provided a different crowd for 1955, 1956, 1957, and my senior year of 1958-1959.

Around 1956 the older Morrisville fan that I had met probably the first year of 1951 at the home games had me join the crowd that he took to games all over the place for the then three major sports, baseball, basketball, and football.

It was mostly following Morrisville, but catching other games as well in basketball and football. This lasted until I went into the service in 1964, and sometime during my four year hitch he finally tired of high school sports and was done with it.

But at the Neshaminy games about 1961 or 1962 we met another yet older gentleman that was a high school sports nut as we were and he became a group member by meeting us at various games. I believe he had attended Northeast High in Philadelphia but now resided in Bensalem and followed Bensalem and Neshaminy, but also other teams when he could. When I returned to football in 1968; and again in 1976, I thought I saw him at a distance many times, but I did not check it out.

Along with the company aspect of high school football, I got my start following my alma mater exclusively from 1951 through 1960 to the greatest degree. In 1959 I also picked up on Neshaminy and followed them primarily until I entered the service in 1964. In 1968 it was more Pennsbury that I followed, and this continued until 1988.

I caught a dozen games in 1985, more like it, but nothing to what was ahead. Pennsbury posted another 10-0 season and I saw three of their games. All-state for the Falcons that season was OL Bob Burns and LB Galen Snyder. Also all state was Dick Beck OL from C B West.

In 1985 Morrisville had a 9-1-1 tour and I saw 4 of their games. At their 7^th game of the season, a 14-28 loss to Lansdale Catholic in Morrisville I ran into my old Bensalem/Neshaminy buddy from the 1960’s and it was ‘old home’ time. From that season on there was not a single season that we did not attend some games together until he died in 2008 at the age of 89. I saw more games with him than any other single person over about 28 years, ca. 1961-1965, and 1985-2007.

Neshaminy had a decent 8-3 season in 1985 and I saw three of their games, including a 16-28 loss to C B West, so I saw Dick Beck play as well as Galen Snyder that year.

My returned enthusiasm for high school football was evident in my extra notes I wrote in my written records log for the season. I called 1985 the “best season since 1978”.

News in January 1986 indicated big changes in high school football for teams I followed. Because I had not been following the small schools, except Morrisville at times, I did not realize that the Bulldogs had joined a second league in 1985, the Independence League. And Jenkintown had left the Bicentennial and joined only the Independence.

For 1986 Lansdale Catholic was leaving the Bicentennial (BAL) for the Pioneer Athletic Conference. Springfield was leaving the BAL for a Suburban One conference. This would leave a 5-team Independence League and 4-team BAL for 1986, with Morrisville the only team playing in both leagues.

But the biggest change of all was the admission of the old BuxMont League schools to Suburban One. Envisioned was a 24-team league of 2 conferences each with 2 divisions of 6 teams each, one dubbed National Conference with divisions A & B (before names were assigned).

The second conference was the American Conference with divisions A & B until named.

National A – Bensalem, Council Rock, Neshaminy, Pennsbury, Tennent, Truman.

National B – Abington, CB East, CB West, Norristown, North Penn, Pennridge.

American A – Cheltenham, Methacton, P-W, Quakertown, Souderton, Upper Merion.

American B – H-H, Lo Moreland, Springfield Montco, Up Merion, Up More, Wissahickon.

Eventually the divisions became the Patriot, Colonial, Liberty and Freedom respectively.

I was pumped for the 1986 season despite the changes, but as it turned out I only made 9 games, not even averaging one a week for an 11-week regular season including Thanksgiving possibilities. I noted in my records that “I couldn’t get motivated to go to games in threatening weather or longer distances just as in 1985”. Traveling alone was obviously getting to me somewhat, traffic was definitely worse in the 1980’s than the 50s and 60s, and would get worse yet in the future. My Bensalem buddy, back in the 60’s, drove me to a game in Allentown or Bethlehem once. That was the only time. We never again were in the same car for a game, mostly just met at games. I did listen to some of the weather-related games on radio.

Likely due to the renewal of my Bensalem/Neshaminy football buddy, I saw 5 Neshaminy games to 3 Pennsbury in 1986. Included was my first time viewing of Downingtown and North Penn. Both were at Neshaminy and the Skins beat the Whippets 26-21 and the Knights 21-6.

All 9 games I saw involved big schools as I continued to move away from small school viewing primarily. And I was becoming aware of the perks of having someone to talk with during the games, which made the pre-game time go faster (I usually arrived an hour or more before games), and it was fun to discuss plays and coaching decisions, et cetera, during the game.

I again took in the Pennsbury-Neshaminy classic at Neshaminy this season won by the Skins 17-14. Neshaminy posted a good 8-3 season, sharing the division title with Council Rock at 5-3 each in the league. In cross-division play which counted in league standings, the old BuxMont (plus Abington & Norristown) schools dominated cross-division play with the old LBCL schools. Abington, CBE, CBW, Norristown and Pennridge were all 3-0 versus old LBCL schools. North Penn suffered the only loss to an old LBCL school, the 6-21 loss to Neshaminy.

I motored to William Tennent for their season-ending game with Council Rock in 1986, my first visit to that Tennent field (the present one, but highly refurbished since then), and first to a home Tennent game since 1963 at the old field.

Tennent won 19-0 and the teams got chippy late and the game was ended by officials with less than a minute left on the clock as a result.  I do not remember that occurring before in my viewing history; and it also demonstrated that I was staying to games’ end in those days.

My notes at the end of the 1986 season were much more upbeat. I envisioned traveling a little further to see “good teams” or “good games” such as Doylestown for CB East and West, Poppy Yoder in Perkasie for Pennridge, and Crawford Stadium in Lansdale for North Penn.

I was keeping 14 school records for the 1986 season having dropped Lansdale Catholic and Springfield as they had left the local leagues. For 1987 I decided to drop Archbishop Kennedy, Harriton, and Jenkintown as they were not “Bucks County” schools and I had been following them just because they were in leagues with Bristol and Morrisville. I also dropped George School which was a Bucks County school, but they did not stay in the local leagues more than two seasons. I envisioned picking up the Colonial Division of the Sub One League, but did not do it until the 1988 season.

The year of 1987 turned out to be a very pivotal year in my hobby career. I saw 7 Neshaminy games, who turned in a fine 9-2 season, losing only to C B West (11-0) and Pennsbury (8-3).

At Neshaminy on Monday night 10/5 due to Friday rainouts, the Abington Ghosts 3-0 and unscored upon with an 80-0 three-game scoring record faced the 3-0 Redskins with a 73-14 scoring log to date. While I was not yet doing detailed game notes, I classified this as one of the great games. Neshaminy was down 20-14 with 40 seconds left in the game and pulled it out with a TD, PAT – final 21-20 Neshaminy.

Next week I followed Neshaminy to Crawford Stadium and for the first time saw North Penn play at home. Neshaminy cruised 42-6. That set up a 5-0 Neshaminy for next week’s matchup with C B West.

At Neshaminy on the night of my 46^th birthday, 5-0 Neshaminy hosted 5-0 C B West, who had last lost a game on Thanksgiving 1983 to C B East 6-7. The Bucks’ were riding a 37-game winning streak into this one. Skins cheerleaders and fans had signs reading, “The Bucks’ stop here”; a clever play on the old President Truman saying that the buck stops here; his acknowledgment that he was responsible for making hard decisions. But of course, the Bucks’ did not stop, but proceeded to a 25-0 shutout of the previously undefeated Redskins.

Earlier in 1987 I fatefully decided to motor to Doylestown War Memorial Field for my first football game there; I had participated in senior drum & bugle corps activity on that field in 1962 and 1963. It was a Thursday afternoon game due to observance of the Jewish holiday.

The crowd was very thin for Tennent (0-3) at C B West (3-0). I had my drum corps (baseball cap) hat on as a sun visor. An older gentleman standing in the stands near me mentioned the corps, and said that he and his son had both been in the corps at different times.

This led to discussion during the game (42-7 CB West), and the man said that he thought that his son would like to meet me as we both obviously had common interests in drum corps and high school football, and even Morrisville, as the man and son had relatives there years ago. The gentleman lived in Doylestown and his son in Hatfield, near Lansdale.

On October 23^rd I traveled to Doylestown again for Abington (only one loss) versus C B West. Being a good matchup, the gentleman I met earlier was there with his son, whom I did indeed meet. As far as high school football and drum corps history this guy appeared to have had Big Bang Theory’s Dr. Sheldon Cooper’s identic memory.

He rolled off the entire offensive lineup of the Morrisville 1958 team, my senior year; that even I didn’t fully remember. He did the same for a 50’s- era Ambler team. Star players and scores and records from BuxMont teams during the 50s and 60s came to him like a computer. Same with drum corps information – various years championship corps, scores, names of key drummers and buglers; I was literally amazed. We immediately became friends, later involved both of our wives meeting, and down the road exchanging house visitations, etc.

Now I had a Bensalem buddy and a Lansdale buddy and his dad, for company at some games. It was a definite changing point in the social end of high school football for me.

My wife’s contacts through the bank with Pennsbury people led to the only time in my history that I had reserved seats for the big Pennsbury-Neshaminy game at Pennsbury this season. In fact we had a block of 6 together. I invited my new Lansdale buddy and his father, and with my wife and me, my sister and her husband to make the six. The day was bitter cold, gray, and with a howling wind, the worst I ever experienced at a high school game. My buddy’s father said in advance it was too rough for him, so five of us tried to take it in. Big mistake! Forever will this game be known as the “Ice Bowl” to us. Neshaminy (9-1) was favored over Pennsbury (7-3), but one Troy Vincent of the Falcons had different ideas. Early on he ripped an 80-yard dash into a 6-0 lead and it was all but over. The wind prevented successful kicks or accurate passing. The bands tried at halftime but both bands-people and sound were blown aside. It was 18-0 at the half and we five all decided unanimously that it was enough; we were frozen and headed home. We missed nothing – it ended 18-0 Falcons. Troy Vincent went on to Wisconsin and 200 games in the NFL with Miami, Philadelphia, and Buffalo 1992-2006.

I saw all the top teams in both divisions in 1987, Neshaminy 9-2 and Pennsbury 8-3 in the Patriot, and CB West 11-0 and Abington 9-2 in the Colonial. I had extended to Doylestown and Lansdale, met a new football buddy and his dad, saw good teams, good games, and a total of 18, more like it. I wrote voluminous notes on the season that set the stage for game-by-game notes for 1988, a feat I wish I had started in 1951.

I have far more games seen that I cannot reconstruct any memory of seeing than those that I do vividly remember. Notes on the games help tremendously.

Pivotal as 1987 was personally, 1988 brought high school football championships played on the field. It also brought beautiful new higher metal bleachers to Doylestown War Memorial Field. I added the Colonial Division to my records and thus had 16 teams to track, 6 Patriot, 6 Colonial, 2 Philadelphia Catholic League, and Bristol and Morrisville from their respective leagues.

I would hit the 20 mark for games seen in 1988, a pleasing total, and most since 1977 (27), my record year to date.

The year would complete my conversion from a Morrisville-Neshaminy-Pennsbury stage follower to a full CB West enthusiast. Why wouldn’t you want to follow a team with a nation-leading win streak of 42 games entering the season?

I had seen them 5 times in 1987, and would be 8 of 11 for 1988. But I also managed to see 5 Pennsbury and 4 Neshaminy among a smattering of other teams.

With the notes on each game I wrote the day and date of each game another improvement over the just home or away (no day or date) status that I had used from the beginning in 1951.

CB East opened a week earlier than West and I was there with my Lansdale buddy and his dad to see Archbishop Wood return the opening kickoff for a TD and 7-0 lead. But it was all defenses from there on and CB East got a 10-7 win in the end.

The following Friday it was Wood again, this time at Neshaminy where the home team won 48-6. I wrote in my notes “Looked like the Neshaminy of old – ground game, passing, kicking, and defense looked great”. This notation has several aspects to it. First, it was the first time I took notice in my notes of some mechanics of the game. For 37 seasons I had merely been a viewing fan of the sport, following the teams I mentioned above without regard to noting such things. Both the friendship with my new buddy who also knew the dynamics of football, and the fact I was now following a super program in CB West, lit up that part of me more than ever before. I was right on my assessment as Neshaminy went on to an 11-0 regular season; became the first-ever local state 4A playoff team, but unfortunately lost the playoff game big to Cedar Cliff 0-24.

Team rankings now became evident due to the championship availability. I noticed that local rankings had CB West’s second opponent Cardinal O’Hara third in the area. I took this in at Doylestown and West handled the Lions’ 28-6.

Next up was West Chester Henderson, 10^th ranked in the local polls. The Warriors brought a running back named Reeves with them and he kept this a close contest. Although the final was 21-6, the game seemed closer than that with Reeves always a threat, and possibly the last Bucks’ score came late.

The main purpose of my taking in West’s next game was to be at a game where a state record is broken; how often can you say that? Not only I; but channels 3, 6, 10, and 29 and 5000 fans also decided to take this one in.

The channel 6 news clip proved I was there, a rare TV appearance however so fleeting. CB West beat Truman 50-19, unleashing a fine aerial attack not seen earlier.

In this early version of state championships there were no district playoffs yet. The PIAA chose the teams from the east and west for a semi-final game before the winner went to the state final. I would imagine they used a rating system similar to that later devised and revealed to place the teams chosen. Both Neshaminy and Ridley ended regular seasons 11-0. Either the Ridley-Interboro game was still Thanksgiving, making the Green Raiders 10-0 regular season; or the fact that Ridley played several AAA teams, while Neshaminy played all AAAA; put Neshaminy in the playoffs for the first championship. Unfortunately, Cedar Cliff had end Kyle Brady.

He was instrumental in the Neshaminy defeat, and went on to Penn State and 200 games in the NFL from 1995 to 2007. Brady was a 6-5 240 pound junior in 1988 and first team all-state TE, which he repeated as a senior in 1989 at 6-6 and 250 pounds. Cedar Cliff lost the State title close 7-14 to Pittsburgh Central Catholic. I sat with Rick Lee at a game in 2013, who was a Redskin assistant coach in 1988 and he gave me some vivid descriptions of Brady and that game. Wow!

I finished the 1988 season at Neshaminy for Pennsbury Friday night Nov 18, a 49-14 Neshaminy victory. The two teams were uncharacteristically worlds apart this season. The Falcons ended 5-6 and had given up over 30 points in four losses this season. I bid my Bensalem friend and his wife goodbye for the season here. I had an early 3:30 AM Saturday morning call; my wife and I were motoring to Florida for 10 days.

Next was the end of another decade, 1989; how time flies. To me this was the year of the Abington Ghosts and a very un-typical C B West team. Nine of the 16 teams I now followed had winning records this go around. I upped my annual total to 25 games, second highest count to this season.

On Friday Sep 10, the “whole gang” moved south to the lower end of the county to see Archbishop Wood open at Bensalem. By this I mean that my Lansdale buddy and his dad joined me for the trip to Bensalem and we met our Bensalem buddy and his wife there. My wife still went to occasional games with me, but more for Morrisville or when I had no other company. The Owls of Bensalem won this one 34-20 and they featured a 96-yard kickoff return TD and a 65 yard gallop from scrimmage for a TD. They looked big and fast, and the season proved out, they had a winning, 7-3-1 season.

I caught the first three Neshaminy games this season as they were coming off of an 11-1 season. The second game was the signature win for the Skins.

Abington came in and this season the Ghosts were loaded. Neshaminy always led in this game, but the score changes were 7-0 Skins, 7-7; 14-7; 14-14; 21-14; 28-14; 28-21; 28-27, and finally Neshaminy victory 35-27.

The game was 14-7 Neshaminy at the half with the kickoff to Abington. Jason Hughes returned it for 90+ yards and a TD to make the 14 tie. After the ensuing kickoff, Neshaminy’s Rob Latronica bolted 60+ yards to make the 21-14 score. Unknowingly, it was to be the only loss Abington would suffer this season and it was enough to keep them out of the early championship playoff scheme.

West played Cardinal O’Hara home again in 1989 on a Saturday, switched from rain Friday night originally at O’Hara. This was to make history either way it went. C B West would tie Braddock’s state unbeaten streak at 56 games with a win. A loss would break the 55-game unbeaten streak of CB West. Notice the wording, CB West had tied CB East the prior year which cost CB West the first state playoffs and ended their win streak, but not unbeaten streak as a tie is not a loss. This atypical CB West team had opened at Plymouth-Whitemarsh and just escaped with a 10-9 decision. This O’Hara game was close and back and forth, mostly defensive, but a fake O’Hara field goal attempt turned into a TD made the Lion’s the winner 13-10 and C B West tasted defeat for the first time since Thanksgiving 1983.

The next week I followed Neshaminy to Doylestown where Mike Frederick and company handed the Bucks’ a 27-13 defeat. CB West had a 2-game losing streak and I won’t even research how long before that had happened. Mike Frederick was an all-state (2^nd team) linebacker in 1989 and returned to coach Neshaminy for a single season in 2014.

Pennsbury dispatched CB West 20-17 later in the season in a game I heard on radio due to being ill; a situation I can thank goodness say did not happen much in 65 years; only in the last decade or so have age ailments caught up with me. I listened to it on the radio.

Abington only lost to Neshaminy early, so they too dispatched the Bucks’ 31-13 and the Bucks’ ended with a 7-4 campaign in 1989. I was impressed with the Ghosts’ this year and wanted to see them again. At North Penn late in the season the 7-1 Ghosts would be thought to make short work of the 1-7 Knights. But the determined Knights led the game into the fourth quarter, before the Ghosts took the lead for the first and last time and won the game 29-22.

The next week I saw the Ghosts edge by CB East 21-19. They then beat Cheltenham 21-6 to close out a 10-1 season and still missed the playoffs. Coatesville (10-0-1 regular season) was the D1 rep and lost to D3 rep Wilson West Lawn 20-32 and then Upper Saint Clair beat Wilson 12-7 for the state 4A title. Making all-state from this Abington squad were offensive lineman Tim Sorber 6-3 275; DB Tinker Harris who also quarterbacked the team, and LB Steve Gaskins who was also a 5-10 220 pound fullback. Also on this team were talented Jason Hughes, and junior Shawn Wooden who would have to wait until 1990 for all-state honors as a defensive back. Shawn went on to Notre Dame and 107 games with the Miami Dolphins 1996-2003. Taz Orlina was a bruising linebacker with the squad also.

Snow on Thanksgiving ruined our plan to have my Lansdale buddy and his wife and his dad down for the Morrisville-Bristol T-Day classic and then turkey of course.

Morrisville won in the snow 41-8 which I listened to on the radio. On the following Saturday I journeyed to Lansdale for the postponed Lansdale Catholic-North Penn T-day game, won by the Knights 14-0 to end a 2-9 season. My buddy and I talked about possibly going to the class AAAA playoff game if within reach, but it was December 1 at Millersville with snow predicted, so it was no go.

The 1980’s decade win prize went to Berwick who posted a 108-17-1 record for the decade. Locally Ridley won it 100-5-2. CB West was 2^nd to Ridley in District One at 95-11-1.

Not only did I not know these facts at the time, but I also had no way of realizing I had seen six future head coaches play – Mark Schmidt (junior year at Lower Moreland 1976), Galen Snyder, Dick Beck, Mike Frederick, Tim Sorber, and Andy Szarko (not previously mentioned), and an assistant, Craig Phillips (Morrisville alum, CB East Coach).

I consider the 1989 season as the start of my golden era of high school football. It would last for 15 more seasons until various elements ended the possibilities of ever matching that era.

Sources:

Don Black’s various individual high school record books.

Pennsylvania Football News annual resource guides.

“Here’s a look back at 65 – seasons of Pennsylvania High School Football through the eyes of Kmac”

I was 11 days past my 10^th birthday on October 27, 1951 when my older cousin from down the street suggested I go to the local high school football game that night. It was in then bucolic Morrisville, Pennsylvania, just across the Delaware River from bustling Trenton, NJ, about as far to the east as you could go in southeastern PA. The athletic field was about 7 blocks walking distance through residential neighborhoods and streets lined with trees.

Morrisville was playing their closest geographical rival, Pennsbury. The Pennsbury School District completely surrounded Morrisville, north, west, and south; with the Delaware River being on the east. And the Pennsbury Falcons used Morrisville’s field for their home games, playing Friday nights while Morrisville played Saturday day or nights normally. At 10 years of age I had been playing sandlot baseball, basketball, and football of course, but had not quite realized yet that I was not an athlete. I was too short for basketball, too skinny for football, too slow for any sport, and would give Little League Baseball and Midget Football a shot in the next few years; but soon realized that I was not an athlete.

But this night football game got my interest locked tight from this first game. There was something about the lights (portable with a generator truck humming outside the end zone), the live, vocal crowd, bands on both sides blaring, cheerleaders leading yells printed in the program for students to follow, and a camaraderie among the crowd to whom I was soon introduced.

Morrisville won 21-14. That was the important thing. And in this small school, supporting your  athletic teams if you didn’t play was an activity in which many of the student body participated; along with the townsfolk in general. There was just a “feeling” about it you could not escape.

The Morrisville Bulldogs were 2-1-2 after the win and the next game with Bangor was cancelled, probably a good thing for the Bulldogs in those days. I next saw the game at home against Neshaminy in the mud, cold and slop on November 17^th at 2:00 PM. A Morrisville player recovered a Neshaminy fumble in the Neshaminy end zone and it was all the scoring; final 6-0 Morrisville, and little did I know that I had seen the last time the Bulldogs would beat Neshaminy. I do have mental images of this game, now 65 years ago; but not of the initial game. There was a different “feel” about a daytime game, but it was still positive; I enjoyed it also.

Morrisville ended the season 4-2-2, and in a two-way tie with Bensalem for second place in the league at 4-1-1. Bristol won the league championship at 5-1-0 league, 5-5-0 overall.

My initial feelings about the games were based on the home team winning or losing. We yelled, cheered, and even started our own yells as a group, “push em back, shove em back; way back!” Only old timers will remember this; especially some Neshaminy elders, a group of fans standing on the top row on the home side at Neshaminy always yelled this in the late 50’s, early 60’s.

Everything was centered locally, at home games. I knew nothing of offensive and defensive schemes, the importance of the offensive and defensive lines; and of course, I became a “ball watcher” ignoring good blocking and basics such as tackling. Local teams did not pass much.

I had no knowledge of football around the state. I didn’t know that Ridley was posting another 11-0 season in 1951; and that Lower Merion, that now struggles mightily, was 8-1 with their only loss to Ridley 28-14. The LM Aces had come off of a 9-0 1950 season. I had no knowledge that Berwick had gone 11-0, 10-1, 10-0-1, and 10-1 for 1941 through 1944. Statewide recognition had no meaning for me then, but at least for the eastern side of the state recognition would come along as Neshaminy started to schedule big name eastern PA opponents in the late 1950’s. Ambler, Easton, and Allentown were among them.

I had no concept of western PA football or the WPIAL. The late Dr. Roger B. Saylor, who developed a pioneer ranking system for Pennsylvania high school football-playing schools, was not known to me. I did not know that Farrell 9-1-0, and Aliquippa 11-0-0 won his 1951 and 1952 rankings top spots; and both appeared in 2015 state championship games.

Little by little I gained better knowledge of the game and officiating. I learned that Morrisville was part of the Lower Bucks County League that seems to have existed since 1935. It consisted of seven teams in 1951 – Bensalem, Bristol, Council Rock (formerly Newtown), Morrisville, Neshaminy (formerly Langhorne-Middletown), Pennsbury (formerly Fallsington and Yardley), and Southampton (in 1955 to become William Tennent).

Through the 1950’s Morrisville and Bristol were slowly relinquishing their “big school” (small schools but organized earlier and more urban) mantels as the construction of Levittown, Fairless Hills, and the Fairless Steel Plant were bringing massive migration to the lower Bucks County area that had primarily been vast farms and woodlands.

Following my alma mater through the fifties, first as a young fan; then from my freshman year (1955-56) as a high school band member, I got to see almost all of the games. The Bulldogs could hold their own in the league most seasons, although as with Bristol, they were slowly and surely being outgrown and would someday not be able to compete with other local schools.

Some examples from the fifties were that Morrisville held Council Rock scoreless for five consecutive years 1954 through 1958 winning 20-0, 33-0, 27-0, 33-0, and 13-0. Morrisville was 5-4 with Pennsbury 1951-1959. Neshaminy beat Morrisville 14-12 in 1955 and 6-2 in 1957.

In my senior year during the 1958 football season I began to keep handwritten records for all of the teams in the Lower Bucks County League, which by then included Delhaas (Bristol Township) that had entered the league in 1953.

As luck would have it, with my love of high school football, Morrisville gained the only undefeated season in the school’s history to date (2015) at 8-0-1 in my 1958 senior year. A 6-6 tie with Neshaminy prevented 9-0, but the two teams shared the LBCL Championship. Though my records are now computerized, I still maintain the written records in 3-ring binders; 65 years worth to date.

Through an older Morrisville fan/student I met at early games, I also started to visit other games besides my Morrisville Alma mater in 1958. Just two, Bristol-Council Rock and Delhaas-Neshaminy, but it was the start of an expansion of my football interest beyond my alma mater.

While not all events can be cataloged into even time frames, it is easiest to tell my story in decade blocks for the early years, with a shortened 1951-1959 the first block, because I only started in 1951. Later when I made notes of each game I saw I will have to go yearly and even less. It will take me 30 installments to tell my story.

There was no statewide recognition in the early 1950’s for the local teams. Neshaminy was growing the strongest, and Pennsbury was beginning to climb. And in 1958 Bishop Egan Catholic High School opened just outside of Tullytown, lower Bucks County. As with most starting programs, they played an independent schedule – all Catholic Schools, and ended 0-8-1, the tie 7-7 with Pottstown Saint Pius X. But the Egan Eagles would also grow to a strong program. Malvern Prep and Bishop Kenrick were on the Eagles original schedule.

Another new school came in 1959 and it was Woodrow Wilson High School in Bristol Township and a sister school of Delhaas. They played just the 8 LBCL teams in 1959 and went 1-7. They also ran the single-wing offense just as Neshaminy and it was the only other team doing so in that era. Simpler times; most teams ran T-formation, full house backfield offenses in those days.

The top wins record of the 1950’s decade was Old Forge High School at 80-17-11 up in coal country while locally Ambler 78-17-4 in Montgomery County was tops. At the time, I had no idea of such stats; at that time it was just root for the alma mater.

But a lot of that coal country talent was, or would be, moving into our local area, either favoring steel mill employment, or assisting in filling the services that were needed by local communities due to the population explosion; teachers and coaches for example.

Neshaminy gained coaches’ John Petercuskie from Old Forge, Peter Cordelli from Blakely, and Jack Swartz from Carbondale. Al Matuza came to Pennsbury in 1955 from Shenandoah High School and from the Chicago Bears (1943).

There is no doubt that starting in 1952 Neshaminy was the lower Bucks power football school with a 9-1 season and a LBCL Championship (6-0). Their lone loss was non-league to Ambler 7-25. The 1953 season saw co-champs, both Bensalem and Neshaminy 6-1 league. Neshaminy won the title outright in 1954, 1955, 1956, 1959, and 1960.

In 1957 Neshaminy and Pennsbury shared co-championships and in 1958 Neshaminy and Morrisville shared co-championships. Shared or outright, Neshaminy was in every LBCL title 1952-1960. But they were not recognized by Dr. Saylor until the 1962 season.

The start of a new decade in 1960 was a transition year in many ways now that I look at it in retrospect. Morrisville’s long-time coach Gordon Davies, I believe also an upstate product, but well before the recent influx, retired after the 1960 Morrisville season.

The Bulldogs posted a 7-2 slate, losing only to Neshaminy (0-42) and Bensalem (13-19). This followed an 8-1 and the 8-0-1 seasons, making the 1958-1960 era, one of the best in school history at 23-3-1 for the three seasons. I saw six of the Bulldog games that 1960 season, and it was the last time I saw my alma mater that many times in one year. They have only met with a scattering of success here and there since that time, and have struggled mightily most of this century, and the last four decades of the prior century.

A second transition was that in 1960 Pennsbury opened the first field of their own; the first Falcon Field behind the Charles Boehm school in Lower Makefield Township. Prominent was the bright orange wooden press box.

1960 was also the final season of a unified 9-team Lower Bucks County League. For 1961 the league would be split up into big school and small school divisions, Section I and Section II.

And state recognition came to lower Bucks County for the first time when Neshaminy’s Harry Schuh was named second team all-state Fullback (AP) for 1959. This would be followed in 1960 by Neshaminy RB Jack Stricker (UPI); and John Carber (T) first-team all state 1961.

And it continued in 1962 and 1963 as well with Redskins’ Bob Cummings (C) and Bob Baxter (HB) making all-state respectively. In 1964 Pennsbury joined the ranks of local all-staters with two selections – Dennis Woomer (T) second team and Joe Fiorvanta (G) third team.

And Dr. Saylor accorded Neshaminy as 9^th in the state at 10-0-1 in 1962, and the Skins appeared on his list for the next three seasons – 1963 (3^rd), 1964 (5-way tie for 4^th), and 1965 (5^th).

Neshaminy and Pennsbury were bringing state recognition to the area and I had the pleasure of seeing those athletes play. Dr. Saylor had Pennsbury in a 3-way tie for 10^th in 1966; and then Bishop Egan tie for 9^th in 1967. I was still oblivious of this in my early to mid-teens.

I eschewed college after graduation in 1959 to go directly to work in banking from high school (in three weeks actually), and purchased a used car and began more serious dating.

But I continued my interests in hobbies and music, joining a community marching band in nearby Hamilton Township, New Jersey and joining a hobby group I was interested in. In 1961 I joined a field competition senior drum & bugle corps.

I think the decline of Morrisville football (1-7 in 1961) along with all of my other continued interests, temporarily stifled my high school football interest for a year or two. While I got to 18 games in 1959, my first season out of high school, and 12 in 1960; I made a low of 7 in 1961. But I still continued to log the records of all the teams that I had started with, plus the newcomers in lower Bucks County.

The big school Section I of the LBCL was Neshaminy, Pennsbury, William Tennent, and Woodrow Wilson; while the Section II of smaller schools was Bensalem, Bristol, Council Rock, Delhaas, and Morrisville.

Neshaminy added their big concrete stands for the 1963 season and I saw the first game there that year when the Redskins hosted the Central Dauphin Rams. In a defensive struggle the Skins won 7-0. I saw 8 of the Skins 10 games that season, 7 at Neshaminy and one at Tennent. I had begun to realize the pleasure of watching well-executed high school football, and Neshaminy was the place to be for me.

I also got out to Falcon Field for 4 Pennsbury games, including a 65-0 drubbing of Morrisville in the last game between those two schools whose programs were going in different directions. I also saw the Falcons away twice that season.

I saw all 9 LBCL teams plus Bishop Egan in 1963, a total of 21 games, a new record total for a season to that time.

There was motivation to see as many games as I could in 1963. In early 1963 I had received my military draft notice with a pending entrance date of January 1964. For once I would be on a team, a vast military team; I did some research, talked to recruiters, and chose to enlist in the Army for four years, at the time the only 4-year hitch in the Army; the ASA or Army Security Agency. Among many thoughts about such a venture was “missing high school football”.

After basic training at Fort Dix, NJ, in late March 1964 I motored to Fort Devens, Massachusetts and the ASA Training Center and School. This article is for high school football, and I say only that I remained for all 4 years of my hitch at the School, eventually as Administrative NCO of the data processing division.

It was a 6-hour ride home and once I was permanent party at the school by the 1964 football season, I could get home for games on weekends. I was able to take in 16 games in 1964 and 14 in 1965 in this manner. Included in 1965 were two games between Massachusetts teams up there and Bergen Catholic (NJ) at Bishop Egan. This was a competitive, close game going to Bergen 14-7. Egan was growing powerful and was 9-3 in 1965. Also included was the first game ever for Archbishop Wood and it was on a field behind the school sans bleachers as I remember. It was with Morrisville and the Bulldogs won 13-7. The Wood website only includes their first PCL season 1966, but they did indeed play an independent schedule in 1965 and were 0-9; and I saw the first game they ever played.

By the 1966 season I was married and living in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. As a result I saw only a Massachusetts high school all-star football game Lawrence versus Lowell, 21-18 Lowell.

The year of 1967 is the only year in my 65-year high school football hobby, 1951-2015, that I did not see any games. We had been moved from an apartment in Fitchburg, Mass onto post at Fort Devens, and I was preparing to leave the service in early 1968 and had much to do, and of course had no reason to come back to Lower Bucks County in 1966 or 1967 to a greater degree.

On January 15, 1968 I returned to being a civilian, a banker, and in May a first-time homeowner in Fairless Hills, PA not very far at all from the new Falcon Field of Pennsbury, dedicated in 1968. The Falcons first game there was against (then) Bishop Neumann, won 42-0 by Pennsbury. I did not get to that one. But Pennsbury held the stadium dedication the second week when Altoona was in and I had to get to that one and did. The Falcons dispatched the Mountain Lions 33-20 on the way to a 10-1 season, losing only 12-13 to Easton all season. Frank Dykes (T) was second team all-state (AP) from that Falcon eleven.

Before the season started I had made an appointment at the Bucks County Courier Times newspaper building in Tullytown to search their records for the 1966 and 1967 local football seasons so I could keep my written records intact. I was fortunate and treated very nicely there in completing my mission. Some years back from our present time a murder at the building made such research visitation off limits; and I couldn’t do that now.

I only saw two games in 1968 and three in 1969 as I adjusted back into civilian life, home ownership, job requirements, and in ways a restrictive marital regimen.

I basically missed some big doings in the 1966 season. Background: Neshaminy had grown mighty, known state-wide, but had a massive coaching change after their 10-0-1 1965 season.  Pennsbury had grown strong losing only to Altoona 26-28 and Neshaminy 0-7 and going 6-2-1 (tie Wilson 0-0). And Bishop Egan went 9-3, losing the Philadelphia Catholic League Championship to West Catholic 13-28. All this was in 1965, a season in which I did see 14 games; and a preview to the 1966 season.

John Petercuskie left Neshaminy after compiling an on-field 59-1-5 record 1960-1965.

There was an ineligible player issue costing all or some of the 1962 season officially, but I list the on-field accomplishments as I know for fact the ineligible player did not play often and was not involved in any win in any way. In 1966 the Skins went 2-6-2, their first losing season in 15 years (since 2-5-3 in 1951).

Meanwhile in 1966 Bishop Egan went 12-1 and won the PCL and City Championships. A regular season 0-6 loss to LaSalle was their only blemish. They beat Neshaminy 41-0 in the season opener. Pennsbury went 8-1-1 and Wilson went 8-1-1. Yes the tie was with each other. Pennsbury lost only to Allentown Allen 13-20 and Wilson lost only to Egan 0-9. Pennsbury beat Neshaminy 60-0 in the final game of the season for each team.

Additionally, starting in 1966 both Pennsbury and Neshaminy played in a second league commonly called the Eastern Big Eight, although in 1966 it only contained 6 teams. Easton and Pennsbury shared the title in this league at 4-1 each in 1966. Other teams were Allentown Allen, Allentown Dieruff and Bethlehem Liberty.

As I said above, I missed the 1967 season entirely while living in Massachusetts. Getting the local team’s records in 1968, I learned that I missed some good football. Among it was perhaps one of the best Bristol squads ever that went 9-1 with their sole loss to bigger Bensalem 13-14. They averaged 32.7 points per game while allowing 12.3. Among the Warrior’s wins: 35-0 over Archbishop Ryan and 35-7 over Lansdale Catholic.

Pennsbury put up an 8-2 season losing their opener 0-14 to Altoona out there, and also to Easton 14-34 at home, which would have been the last season of the old Falcon Field near Charles Boehm. Neshaminy was still slumping with a 3-7 slate.

Bishop Egan was again only plagued by one upset loss 25-27 to Bishop McDevitt, while posting a slate of 11-1 and including PCL and City Championships. While I cannot locate his name in any all-state teams, Larry Marshall played for Egan around this time and he went on to Maryland and then 75 games in the pros 1972-78 with four different teams.

Although I only saw two games in 1968, I did see the best local team as Pennsbury went 10-1, losing only to Easton 12-13 at Cottingham.

I saw the Altoona stadium dedication game mentioned above and I also saw the final game, the annual Neshaminy-Pennsbury tussle, won by the Falcons 17-13. Neshaminy bounced back somewhat to 7-4 for 1968.

In 1969, the end of the 1960’s decade I only saw three games, two Morrisville and the Neshaminy-Pennsbury affair again, this time at Heartbreak Ridge. It was Bucks County Courier Times icon Dick Dougherty that dubbed the Neshaminy stadium “Heartbreak Ridge” in 1965. The Falcons again prevailed 13-7. They finished 8-2, the best local public team record.

By the end of the 1960 decade I was in a slump of four years, 1966-1969 having been to only 6 games over the four years. I missed it greatly; but it would get worse before it got better.

Because 1965 was the last of what I would call my first continuous cycle of high school football 1951-1965; I was not really tuned to the results of the period of the 1960’s as to league championships and local teams in the Eastern Big 6, 7, or 8, depending on the years.

In the LBCL, section I Neshaminy continued to dominate, winning the league in 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, and 1965. Pennsbury had taken the lead in 1966, sharing the crown with Woodrow Wilson that year, then winning the league outright in 1967, 1968, and 1969.

The Eastern Big 8 (probably called Big 6 in the first season) only started in 1966 when I saw no games locally in the LBCL and this happened again in 1967. I remember being aware of it from news accounts and the local Neshaminy and Pennsbury schedules though. Easton and Pennsbury shared the first 1966 title at 4-1 each in the league. Easton won it outright in 1967 and 1968 and Pennsbury was second in both years. In 1969 a three-way tie for first at 4-2 occurred among Allentown Dieruff, Neshaminy and Pennsbury.

As the league started the year that Neshaminy tanked, they were last in the league in 1966 (1-3-1); and in 1967 (1-4). The Skins sat in fourth place in 1968, and were in the three-way tie for first at 4-2 mentioned above in 1969.

There were 6 teams in this Eastern Big league 1966-1968; and 7 in 1969 when Bethlehem Freedom entered. The league continued through the 1975 season and Reading entered in 1973 finally making it the “Big 8”. As I did not get to return to very active high school football until the 1976 season; I basically missed the entire existence (1966-1975) of this second league for the two local teams.

I was still “localized” in my views of high school football. I did not know that Harrisburg John Harris won the 1960s decade for wins at 95-7-3; or that locally Ridley went 78-12-3 for the best record in District One. I didn’t know that Mike Pettine Sr., who graduated from Conshohocken, had become coach at Central Bucks High School in Doylestown, PA in 1963. I didn’t know that Easton had one of those rare losing seasons at 3-7-1, after a three year run at 28-1-1 the prior three seasons.

High School Football was going on without me and I didn’t like it!

Sources:

Don Black’s various individual high school record books.

Pennsylvania Football News annual resource guides.

Neshaminy Football website – history.

WARMINSTER – Yesterday, Athletic Director Brian Haas announced the hiring of Matt Walp as their next Head Football Coach. He has been an assistant coach at Wood since 2014 under previous Head Coach Steve Devlin and Kyle Adkins. 

Adkins resigned after two seasons at Wood to take an assistant coaching position at Ursinus College and join former Wood coach Steve Devlin.

Walp played football at Archbishop Ryan and coached at Delaware Valley College. 

The Vikings are coming off a State Championship in 2019 defeating Cheltenham in the PIAA Class 5A finals at Hersheypark Stadium. 

This fall, under the PIAA success formula, Archbishop Wood will move up to Class 6A. 

We sat down and talked to Matt about his path to Archbishop Wood, winning a state title in 2019 season and about the incoming season. 

↓ Listen Here ↓

↑ Listen Here ↑

Today, on twitter Lonnie White out of Malvern Prep committed to Penn State University. White Jr. previously committed to Clemson to play baseball in 2018. 

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound White is heading to Penn State to play receiver and is also going to play baseball for the school. He is a quarterback at Malvern Prep. 

Head coach Dave Gueriera said, ” I am excited for Lonnie and his family.  I think he is going to excel on the gridiron and the diamond. Phenomenal athlete with a great head on his shoulders.”

Lonnie is a two-sport star at Malvern Prep and is rated the 11th best prospect in Pennsylvania according to 247Sports rankings.