Dying tradition on Friday nights? Small towns cling to high school football in face of possible mergers
-
Ashae Berry, 16, leads the Clairton cheerleaders along Miller Avenue to the Clairton stadium before a home game Sept. 24 against Chartiers-Houston. -
The Neshannock marching band performs Sept. 17 under the stadium lights at halftime during a game at Sto-Rox High School. -
Clairton fans cheer on the football team as players enter the stadium during a home game Sept. 24 against Chartiers-Houston. -
Sharaya Dorsey, 18, reacts to a play on the field Sept. 17 during a Sto-Rox home game against Neshannock. -
Paige Moody, 18, right, cheers for the Clairton marching band as it marches along Miller Avenue. She is a Clairton graduate and a former band member.
Share with others:
Fall Fridays in Monaca are pretty quiet now. No longer do people have parties and walk to the football stadium. No longer do fans pack the restaurants.
No longer does the announcer's voice float up out of the valley, stating: "And now the starting lineup for your Monaca Indians!"
"I remember as a player coming down that ramp [from the locker room], all the fans reaching out and hitting you on the shoulder pads," Mayor John Antoline said. "It was quite a thrill."
But it's a thrill that no Monaca High School boy will know again because Monaca High School no longer exists. It merged with Center Area High School this year; the erstwhile Indians are now Central Valley Warriors, playing up the hill at Center's old stadium.
Does that matter to anyone outside of Beaver County?
It does because Monaca's situation is not unique.
Imagine Western Pennsylvania football without the Clairton Bears or the Jeannette Jayhawks. What if the Sto-Rox Vikings sailed no more? That's three storied programs in three football-mad areas, and all three are small, shrinking school districts in struggling former mill towns, just like Monaca.
There are plenty more: Aliquippa, Rochester, Monessen, Brentwood, Bethlehem-Center and Cornell.
Others have traditions that permeate their communities even if on-field success has been elusive. One of those is Northgate, made up of Bellevue and Avalon.
"There are enough people at games that the stands are full and people are two- to three-deep on the end zone fence," Bellevue Mayor George Doscher said.
All could cease to exist if the state Legislature mustered the political will to force mergers.
"Eventually, down the road, we're going to have to face facts," Clairton school board President Richard Livingston said.
What would it mean to these towns, which have already lost so much, to lose football as well?
"We don't even want to think about that," Jeannette restaurant owner Tony DeNunzio Sr. said. "The town would be devastated."
"If we would lose our school, our football team, a big part of our identity would be gone," Clairton Mayor Richard Lattanzi said. "I'd compare it to when U.S. Steel closed down."
First Published October 7, 2010 12:00 am
