Anyone who says Western Pennsylvania is a hotbed for high school football is a liar.

The area has that reputation thanks to the effort of legendary coaches such as Beaver Falls' Larry Bruno, Butler's Art Bernardi, New Castle's Lindy Lauro, North Allegheny's Jim Rankin, and Aliquippa/Baldwin's Don Yannessa. But it's not true any more.

If it were, schools that didn't qualify for the WPIAL playoffs would play a 10th game instead of putting away the shoulder pads and helmets. The PIAA allows schools to play 10 contests, but few take advantage of the rule.

Ambridge and Ringgold did get together for a 10th game a week ago and should be applauded. Ambridge athletic director Randy Cosgrove had put the wheels in motion for a possible 10th game a week or so before the Bridgers' final Parkway Conference contest.

"We sent something out to all the Triple-A schools to see who was interested and we talked to Deer Lakes and Freedom," he said. "We also talked to Seneca Valley, just in case it didn't get in the playoffs, which it did."

Only underclassmen participated in the contest, which was fine. In fact, that's probably the way for non-playoff teams to go ... get the players who will be back next season an extra week of practice and some game time.

Ambridge ended up losing the contest, 35-0, but Cosgrove said it was a positive experience for the players. And it showed that first-year Ambridge coach Neil Tkatch is willing to put in the extra time to help build his program.

Now, we aren't so naïve as to think that every team that doesn't make the playoffs will look at a 10th game that way. Many coaches don't want to play a 10th game because they are afraid their team will lose and make a bad season even worse. After all, 0-9 doesn't look as bad as 0-10.

That's a lame excuse.

And having the players vote on whether they want to play a 10th game isn't the way to go either. That's like asking Algebra students if they want to have a test or not at the end of the semester.

If a team is beaten up and doesn't have enough healthy players, that's a different story. But that shouldn't be a problem for Class AAA or Class AAAA schools. And if a coach loves the game, as most profess, he should want his team to play as many games as possible. There is no substitute for experience.

When Cosgrove was asked why Ambridge got together with Ringgold for a 10th game his answer was outstanding:

"We played because we should," he said.

Speaking of Ambridge, the school did a good thing by putting the name of former Bridgers great and NFL standout Mike Lucci on its training facilities.

In a ceremony on senior night, the locker room, weight room and training room areas at Moe Rubenstein Stadium was named the Mike Lucci Athletic Complex. Lucci, who starred at linebacker for the Detroit Lions, was on hand for the ceremony as was Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, a teammate of Lucci's with the Lions.

"Six or seven years ago Don [Yannessa] got Mike involved as honorary chairman for the annual golf outing and he's contributed about $50,000 over the years," Cosgrove said. "One of the guys he brought down for the outing donated $5,000 one year, so Mike has done a lot for the school.

"It just made sense to get his name on something what with the renovations we've made at the stadium. And it was great that Dick LeBeau came down to speak because Mike had gone to London, Ohio [LeBeau's hometown], when Dick was honored there."

LeBeau presented Lucci with a plaque that will hang in the Ambridge facility.

Blackhawk struggled this season and finished with a 4-5 record. What's remarkable about that is losing seasons and Cougars coach Joe Hamilton don't usually go together.

Since going through a bad spell in the early 1980s, Hamilton's Cougars haven't had to deal with many losing records. In fact, this is only the second season since 1984 that Blackhawk has finished with a losing record. The other was in 2000 when the Cougars finished 4-6.

Since Hamilton took over the school's football program in 1976, Blackhawk has had just seven losing records and two of those were 4-5-1 marks.

When the season started, Beaver Falls running back Cody Cook needed 1,626 yards to reach the 4,000-yard rushing plateau for his career. He could reach the milestone tomorrow night.

A senior, Cook needs 139 yards to hit 4,000. He probably would have reached the mark already, but injuries kept him out of the Tigers' final regular-season game against New Brighton.

Mike White's "High School Sports Edition" videos are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.