Will Friday's state championship game be Bishop Guilfoyle's Swan Song in the Laurel Highlands?


Bishop Guilfoyle High School's football team has already etched its name into the Pennsylvania record books over the past two seasons. Coach Justin Wheeler's Altoona aggregation has captured back-to-back PIAA state class A championships, something unusual in the state annals.

Friday, the Marauders have the opportunity for a trifecta, their third title, something even more amazing when they battle Clairton in Hersheypark Stadium on Friday afternoon for the Class A title.

BG is also in a unique position in that as a member of the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference (LHAC), the only team from the conference to ever win a state football title, it may no longer be a member of that league come January.

On Jan. 11, the LHAC will decide whether to expel the three private Catholic schools, Guilfoyle, Bishop McCort, and Bishop Carroll, and form a new conference made up of only public schools. Most followers believe that the 12-school league will vote to form a new conference by admitting Chestnut Ridge to make an even number of 10 for the new alignment. That would leave the three Catholic schools without an affiliation and with few options for the future.

The LHAC will reportedly give the current alignment one more season, but even that is still not clear until the January meeting. Nothing really is at this juncture except that this team will probably end the Marauders' remarkable run at state championships. The talent level will drop next year with the graduation of some outstanding athletes.

Catholic-public animus

While the initial target of the LHAC appeared to be Bishop Carroll since the Huskies had a slim roster in 2016 and the league was concerned about not having enough football teams for 2017, that is not the case now. The other two teams joined with BC in opposing the Huskies being voted out of the conference, which prevented the move. Then the conference allegedly threatened Guilfoyle and McCort that if they opposed the move to oust Carroll, they would then become targets and would be removed, too by formation of a new league.

However, what is more likely is that all of the public schools felt that having an all-public league would provide a more level playing field. The publics accuse the Catholics of recruiting players, which is ostensibly illegal according to state rules, though the PIAA is relatively fangless in enforcing this battle any more.

The reality is that while public schools are limited to using those athletes who live within their geographical boundaries, the private schools can recruit athletes from a wide geographical area.

The private schools argue that they are at a disadvantage since they all charge tuition to attend the school. That limits the pool of athletes who can attend the school. Financial aid, however, is available to families who meet certain criteria at the Catholic schools.

Guilfoyle-Clairton matchup

Clairton features one of the top athletes in the state, Lamont Wade, a running back and defensive back who will announce next week which top Div. I-A college he will attend. His list contains the names of Pitt, Penn State, and West Virginia, among others.

Wade told the Post-Gazette that winning the championship is a major personal goal for him. “I’m not stopping until I get a state championship ring, I need one. I can’t go without one. That’s driving me. Clairton has won multiple WPIAL and state championships, but I don’t have a state. That hurts. I have to get one.”

Overall, the Clairton roster is faster and more athletic than BG's, but the Marauders feature a huge offensive line that has carried them this far in 2016. It is a classic speed vs. power matchup.

Conclusion

Regardless of whether or not Guilfoyle wins the game, the truth is that many in the LHAC will not be rooting for them. The die has been cast for this battle, and while minds may change before the Jan. 11 meeting, the likelihood is that BG, McCort and Guilfoyle will no longer be part of the previous LHAC down the road.

It will not, however, erase an amazing run in which the Marauders have not lost a game in three seasons and have won two state titles with a possible third on the line.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering the toughest loss I ever experienced in approximately a quarter-century of coaching football. George Pasierb was a great coaching adversary.

Image
R.I.P. George Pasierb, 1946-2020 Shade-Central City High School football coach Photo: Tribune-Democrat No high school football fan could ask for anything better than this. On a beautiful sunny, warm afternoon on Saturday, October 30, 1982, in Nanty Glory, Pa., the battle featured a clash of two undefeated titans of the Appalachian Conference.  One was the preseason unanimous favorite to win the title, the other a veritable surprise that season, one that had built an 8-0 record entering that game.  This battle lived up to the pre-game hype, ending in a one-point decision that was not certain until the final play of the game.  I thought of this because the coach of the powerful Shade-Central City High School Panthers, George Pasierb, passed away earlier this week. He coached the Panthers for 20 years, but his best team was arguably that 1982 team that battled the Blacklick Valley Vikings on that Saturday afternoon before more than 3,000 ebullient fans.  And, the one-po...
Read more

Why did Tennessee-Chattanooga hire trainer Tim Bream despite his role in the alcohol-induced death of Tim Piazza at a Penn State frat?

Image
… was a live-in advisor at the fraternity On paper, Tim Bream has an impressive resume. Actually, very impressive — up to a point. That seems to be when Bream’s life appears to careen out of control. Bream, who resigned as Penn State trainer in Feb.,  was a graduate of Penn State with a bachelor’s degree in physical education, specializing in athletic training. He then attended West Virginia as a grad assistant trainer, where he received a master’s degree in Physical Education with an emphasis on Sports Science. All of this information is from his bio on the Penn State athletic site. He then worked his way up the ladder impressively, working at Syracuse, Vanderbilt, and finally at the University of Richmond, where he was the Director of Sports Medicine and Head Athletic Trainer. Then he received his big break, being name as Assistant Athletic Trainer for the Chicago Bears in 1993, and four years later, Head Athletic Trainer. He was with the Bears for 19 years when inexplicably,...
Read more

Why did Mike Tomlin start hiring black coaches after 15 years?

Image
Brian Flores … hiring Flores probably rankled Goodell To place this into context, understand that the only reason that the Steelers hired Mike Tomlin 15 years ago is because he was black.  Why? He had never even been a coordinator anywhere, never in the NFL. The only reason that he was interviewed was because of the “Rooney Rule.” That rule is one named after the late Dan Rooney who led the effort to force every NFL team to interview at least one black coach when it had head coaching openings.  The Steelers had focused their coaching search after Bill Cowher left on Ron Rivera, then a defensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears. Their interview with Tomlin was a peremptory one, something to satisfy the smell test.  After all, why interview a guy who was just a defensive coach? Coordinators are the people who are hired for the big gig.  Tomlin, though, is a great talker, and he wooed Dan Rooney so much that he was hired for the position.  Which begs the q...
Read more