Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette photos
	Flanked by signs urging on their team, Leechburg Area assistant basketball coach John Plazarin, left, lunches with teacher Michelle Ferretti at Leechburg's Old Towne Cafe on Wednesday after school was called off due to bad weather.

By Mike White
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Everything about Leechburg suggests Smalltown, U.S.A. Put a nickel in a meter along Market Street and you get 30 minutes of parking.

The local drug store has dry cleaning drop off and pickup.

A couple blocks up the hill from Market Street sits Leechburg High School, built in 1922 and a place where you can hear bells ring from a nearby church every day at noon. The senior class has a total of 16 boys.

	The whole town of Leechburg is celebrating the playoff run of Leechburg Area High School, including the resident who now lives at a former church across from the David Leech Elementary School.The WPIAL Class A basketball champions are now in the PIAA state playoffs. Click photo for larger image. More pictures Photo Journal: Leechburg, Home of the champion Blue Devils

But these days, something big is happening in little Leechburg. You get an indication crossing the bridge over the Kiskiminetas River into town. A big white sign with blue letters on the left side of the road welcomes you. It was erected in the past week.

"Leechburg. Home Of The Blue Devils. WPIAL Class A Champs 2007."

It is a sign congratulating a young coach and a group of teenagers who have captured the attention of, and lifted up, this once-thriving steel town in Armstrong County. It's a love story -- a town and its high school basketball team. It's a remake of "Hoosiers."

Last Friday, the Leechburg boys' basketball team played in a WPIAL basketball championship game for the first time in school history. The Blue Devils defeated California, 60-59, to win the title.

The championship has turned teenagers into megastars, a 34-year-old coach into a hero and the town upside down.

Up and down Market Street, businesses from Leechburg Floral to Chuck Smith Flooring have signs in their windows for the Blue Devils. Allegheny Metal Federal Credit Union displays the name of every Leechburg player in its storefront.

One of the 10 gourmet burgers at Old Towne Cafe is sprinkled with blue cheese and called the "Blue Devil Burger."

"This town has been hit hard by the loss of industrial facilities and jobs over the years," said Denny Wolfe, 60, retired principal at Leechburg High School who was born and raised in the town. "But the people here will be remembering this and hanging onto this for years. They still hang on to the football championships they won here -- and they were in the 1950s and '60s."

Leechburg has about 2,300 citizens and many of them clogged Market Street last Friday to welcome the team after the championship game. Four fire trucks and a couple police cars met the team bus just before the bridge into town.

When the procession turned right onto Market Street, it was stopped by a crowd of more than 500 who wanted to congratulate the boys and coaches. They wanted to mingle with the players, including Nick Matviko and Steve Predebon, four-year starters and 1,000-point career scorers who have become folk heroes here.

Damian Davies, who has lifted Leechburg's team to great heights in only three seasons as coach, said he could have sworn he was in New Orleans.

"The street was just flooded with people," he said. "I thought I was at Mardi Gras. The whole thing here has been unbelievable."

One fire truck escorted the team through town before the championship game last week. Business owners lined the streets, wishing the team good luck.

The team bus broke through a large paper banner, much the same way a high school football team breaks through a banner when it comes out of the locker room before a game.

"You're seeing people cheering who probably haven't had something to cheer about in 20 years," Leechburg assistant coach John Plazerin said.

Leechburg had a much larger enrollment in the 1950s through the 1980s, and played in a larger WPIAL classification. The old Allegheny Ludlum steel mill was the town's largest employer. Like that of many Western Pennsylvania small towns, Leechburg's population dwindled with the demise of the steel industry.

Leechburg is now the eighth-smallest school in the WPIAL, with 45 students in the senior class and 235 in grades 9-12. The only smaller public schools are Duquesne and Mapletown.

"For a school to be that small and reach the level they have is phenomenal," said Vicki Beuth, owner of Leechburg Floral and director of the Leechburg Area Community Association. "I grew up outside of New York City and have had this business for 20 years. It's amazing how open, trusting and caring the people are here, and it's amazing the outpouring of support this town has shown over this team."

Joe Moore is the owner of Your Name Here, a small sportswear and promotional products store on Market Street. By noon last Saturday, he already had 75 orders for Leechburg WPIAL championship T-shirts. He had 200 by Tuesday morning.

"I made up T-shirts for the team before the championship game, and I sold 250 of those," Mr. Moore said. "I've sold more Leechburg basketball T-shirts the past week than I did for the Steelers when they went to the Super Bowl.

"This is such a close-knit community where everyone seems to know everyone. This [WPIAL championship] has given everyone reason to come together. This probably happens in towns across the U.S. But to see it is ridiculous."

At the Old Towne Cafe, small signs of "Go Blue Devils" and "WPIAL Champs" adorn the booths in the restaurant, and the coolers behind the food counter. On Tuesday, a small group of women from the Leechburg class of 1949 ate lunch at Old Towne for their monthly meeting. The basketball championship came up.

"I love high school sports. I'd rather see a high school football game than watch the Steelers, to be honest," said Dave Mathew, one of the owners of the Old Towne Cafe.

"It's pretty cool to see dads come in this place and just talk about what's going on with the team. It's something to see the unity in this town."

Why does a high school sports team cause such a commotion in a community?

"If we didn't have the school, what does Leechburg have?" Mr. Wolfe said. "With all the mergers going on with schools over the years, Leechburg didn't get into that. The people like to have their little school, and any time one of the sports teams does well, they're going to come out in full force.

"If you wanted to rob a bank in Leechburg, last Friday night was the time to do it."

For last Friday's championship game at Duquesne University's Palumbo Center, the school sold 147 student tickets. That didn't count the many adults who attended.

"Even kids who don't like sports went to the game," Mr. Plazerin said.

Now comes the possibility of another championship.

The PIAA playoffs begin tonight and Leechburg has a tough first-round draw in Du Bois Central Catholic, a team with a 23-3 record. Like last Friday, all of the parking meters on Market Street will be decorated with blue and white balloons. It will take five more victories for a PIAA championship. The town can dream.

"This has put such excitement in this town," Ms. Beuth said. "Everyone keeps looking forward to the next game."