Terry Smith would rather be in Hershey, Pa., this weekend, coaching his Gateway football team in the PIAA Class AAAA title game.

But Hawaii isn't a bad consolation prize.

Smith and two of his Gateway players, Dorian Bell and Corey Brown, are in Honolulu this week for the Hawaiian/Polynesian vs. Mainland Bowl. The game, in its first year, will be played this evening at Aloha Stadium, home of the Hawaii Warriors and NFL Pro Bowl. Bell and Brown are playing and Smith is one of the Mainland assistant coaches.

"I'd rather be freezing this week, worrying about how we're going to stay warm for the state championship game," said Smith, whose team lost to Bethel Park in the WPIAL Class AAAA final. "But it's 85 degrees here. So if our season is over with, I'll take this consolation prize."

Less than two weeks after they get back from Hawaii, Smith, Brown and Bell will leave for San Antonio for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. Smith is the head coach for that game, and Bell and Brown will play.

Bell and Brown had known for months about playing in the All-American Bowl. But they decided only less than two weeks ago that they would play in the Hawaii game.

By choosing to play in the Hawaii and All-American Bowl, Bell and Brown can't play in any other all-star games because high school seniors can play in only two. That means Bell and Brown won't play for Pennsylvania in the Big 33 all-star game in the summer.

"I'm sure they would've been picked for the Big 33 game, but you never really know," Smith said. "I told them they had a choice of playing in the Big 33 game or this one, and they decided on Hawaii because they didn't know if they would ever get there again."

With every win, Bethel Park keeps moving up in the national rankings. Bethel Park (15-0) is No. 11 in the National Prep Poll and No. 17 in USA Today. Bethel Park plays Bethlehem Liberty in the PIAA Class AAAA final tomorrow.

The winningest coach in Pennsylvania football history has retired.

George Curry recently stepped down as Wyoming Valley West's coach. In 42 years of coaching at three schools, he had a record of 413-91-5. Curry, 64, cited health concerns for his decision.

Curry enjoyed most of his coaching success during 35 seasons at Berwick. He won five PIAA titles at Berwick, including four in a row from 1994-97.

It has been said over the past few decades that Western Pennsylvania doesn't produce many "big" players in basketball. But if you want big, just look at the teams at Hampton and Gateway.

Hampton starts two 6-foot-7 players, Tim Donegan and Bill Luther. Then the Talbots bring 6-8 T.J. Brown off the bench. When they play a 2-3 zone with that threesome, the back line goes 6-7, 6-7 and 6-8. That is bigger than Pitt's starting frontcourt. And all three "big" boys at Hampton are wide bodies. They are not slender.

Gateway also has a big lineup. The Gators start 6-6 Devon Cottrell, 6-7 Mike Kromka and 6-8 Barnett Harris. This trio is much different than Hampton's because Gateway's is more slender.

What's interesting is all of the big players on both teams are non-seniors. All three Hampton players are juniors. For Gateway, Kromka is a junior, Cottrell a sophomore and Harris a freshman.

Highlands' Micah Mason is only a freshman, but this 5-8 guard already is establishing himself as one of the better shooters in the WPIAL. Mason had 14 3-pointers in the first three games of the season and was averaging nearly 20 points. He scored 17 points in a loss to Beaver Falls Tuesday.

Mason is part of a Highlands team that is impressive offensively, averaging 77 points a game. But consider this: Highlands is giving up 83 points a game.

Most teams like to have at least a few players score in double figures. The West Greene boys' team is looking to reach double figures as a "team."

West Greene lost its first game of the season Friday to Fort Cherry, 52-5. One day later, it lost to Kiski School, 45-7.

"It was a tough weekend, to say the least," West Greene coach Ed Kilgore said.

Kilgore started three freshmen in the games.

"Unfortunately, we had a situation where I threw two kids off the team and another one got suspended for a week, so he couldn't play," Kilgore said. "Right now, I have three freshmen who are finding out that playing against 18-year-olds is different than playing 14-year-olds. Fort Cherry was beating us 19-0 before we got the ball up the floor.

"We try to get into an offense, but all of a sudden we get pressure and the kids want to start freelancing. We have to get them to stick with the system. We're hoping we improve a little bit."

While West Greene's offense barely had a pulse in the first two games, there have been other WPIAL teams that have scored less over the past four decades.

According to John Smonski, who has WPIAL records dating to the 1950s, Wilkinsburg beat Kiski Area, 8-0, in 1978. In a 1969 game, Swissvale defeated Ligonier, 19-1.