City League down to 5 teams
City League football keeps shrinking. With Carrick’s decision last week to cancel the rest of the season because of low participation numbers, the City League is down to five teams, four fewer than just 10 years ago and eight fewer than 50 years ago.
Despite the lower number of teams and a future that might seem a little shaky, the City League is not thinking about trying to join the WPIAL, at least according to the director of City League athletics.
Mike Gavlik, the AD for Pittsburgh Public Schools, said there has been no discussion among Pittsburgh schools about trying to become part of the WPIAL for football. A few City League schools are members of the WPIAL in some sports, including boys and girls soccer and baseball and softball.
“I know there have been conversations in the Twitter world about joining the WPIAL for football but that might be counter-productive,” said Gavlik.
In other words, City League schools might have trouble competing. Classifications are based on enrollment, and consider that City League member Allderdice would be in WPIAL Class 6A and Brashear in 5A. University Prep would be in 4A while Perry and Westinghouse would be in 3A.
“I’m not sure placing Allderdice and Brashear in 6A and 5A football would solve any problems,” said Gavlik. “The issues of participation are not going to be solved by joining the WPIAL.”
Go back 50 years ago and the City League had 13 football teams. Schools with football teams that are no longer around were Langley, South Hills, Peabody, Schenley, Gladstone, Fifth Avenue, South, Allegheny and Oliver.
Carrick started the season with only 20 players, but recently informed Gavlik that injuries had taken their toll and the Raiders didn’t feel it would be safe to play the rest of the schedule. Perry also has struggled with low numbers. The Commodores have dressed fewer than 20 players for some games.
But low participation isn’t just a problem with the City League. Some small WPIAL schools are struggling. Northgate dressed only 12 players for a recent game and a few other WPIAL teams are dressing fewer than 20 players.
“There’s a negative trend,” Gavlik said. “It’s not just here, but other districts as well. You see [WPIAL] Class 6A teams canceling JV football games. To me, that’s an alarming trend as well.”
Gavlik said an indication of how some kids just don’t want to play tackle football is that he runs a middle school flag football league for middle schools in Pittsburgh, and there are 22 teams with at least 12 players. Granted, the league is co-ed, but most of the players are boys.
“To have at least 12 players in flag football, that’s almost as much as we have on a high school team,” said Galik. “I don’t know what would be the answer. Maybe eight-man football is definitely something to consider.”
TJ’s Cherpak No. 10
Thomas Jefferson coach Bill Cherpak has surpassed Don Yannessa and moved into 10th place on the WPIAL’s all-time list for coaching wins. Cherpak, in his 24th season, now has a 250-47 record. Yannessa coached at Aliquippa, Baldwin and Ambridge for 37 years and had a 249-137-7 record.
WPIAL history site
Did you ever wonder what school has the most WPIAL titles in all sports? Or what are the scores of every WPIAL football championship? Or who were the winners in every WPIAL track and field event the past 38 years?
You can find answers to all of those questions and countless other WPIAL historical facts in a new website that has been launched by longtime sports writer Ken Wunderley. The site will be launched Oct. 1 and can be found at www.wpialarchive.com. With statistical information from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and also his own research, Wunderley has been working for years compiling championship facts for every sport.
Another brother-sister act
Gateway sophomore Jayson and Joelle Jenkins are twin brother and sister — and kickers for the Gateway football team. The Jenkins both kicked extra points in Friday night’s victory against North Hills, but they also had scored in a game earlier this season.
Although having a brother and sister score in a football game is highly unusual, get this: The WPIAL has a second brother-sister kicking combo this year.
Jackson Brandwene is a senior at Baldwin and the No. 1 kicker. His sister, Emma, is a junior and the backup kicker. Both of them also play soccer. Earlier this season in a game against Butler, Jackson was playing a soccer game, so his sister handled the kicking chores. She made six of seven extra points. Jackson, though, got back in time to kick a field goal and an extra point.
EF’s historical start
Elizabeth Forward has moved forward like only one other team in school history.
Elizabeth Forward is 5-0 and has moved up to the No. 2 spot in the Post-Gazette WPIAL Class 2A rankings. The only other time the Warriors started 5-0 was 1978. But they lost the sixth game of the season to undefeated Belle Vernon, 16-7.
Check this out
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart quarterback Tyler Bradley threw for 459 yards in Saturday’s 56-13 victory against Laurel. That’s the seventh-highest passing total in WPIAL history. Bradley, a senior, needs only 120 yards to reach 7,000 for his career.
Fox Chapel coach Tom Loughran needs two more victories to reach 200 for his career (record of 198-165). Fox Chapel is 1-5, though, and still has games remaining against Connellsville, Mars, Armstrong and Shaler. Will he get to 200 by the end of the season?
Shady Side Academy’s Skyy Moore continues to put up jaw-dropping, big-play statistics. Moore has thrown only 47 times, but has completed 29 for 907 yards, an average of 31.3 yards per completion. He has rushed for 553 yards and is averaging 14.6 yards a carry. Shady Side receiver Dino Tomlin isn’t too bad at big plays, either. He has caught only 15 passes, but he is averaging 32.4 yards a reception.