Lincoln Park giving boost to W. Beaver
Who knew that Beavers and Leopards could cohabitate so well?
The Western Beaver football team is 4- 0 this season and has moved into the Post- Gazette WPIAL Class 1A rankings for the first time this season. The Golden Beavers are doing plenty of good things, but a group of Leopards have also played an instrumental role in Western Beaver’s success.
Western Beaver, located in Industry, is in the third year of a cooperative sponsorship agreement for football with Lincoln Park, a charter school 4.5 miles away in Midland ( Beaver County). Under the PIAA’s cooperative sponsorship rules, students attending a school without a particular sport can play that sport for another school, provided the two schools agree on the sponsorship.
The Lincoln Park Leopards have been highly successful in basketball, but the school does not have a football team. This season, 12 of Western Beaver’s 37 players attend Lincoln Park. Six of Western Beaver’s offensive starters and five on defense are from Lincoln Park. A few of Western Beaver’s top players are from Lincoln Park, including WR- LB Dakkari Bradford and his brother, OG- LB Daquan. Cam Irvine, the team’s second- leading rusher, also attends Lincoln Park.
“They’ve been having a great effect,” Western Beaver coach Ryan Matsook said of the Lincoln Park players. “They’ve mixed in with a couple of really good classes from Western Beaver that
have some talented kids. You put those two entities together, it’s been a pretty positive thing.”
Matsook is in his first year as Western Beaver’s coach, but also is Western Beaver’s athletic director and assistant principal. He won WPIAL and PIAA titles at Beaver Falls in 2016.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. We were going to be in a predicament, like some other schools that you read about in the paper, that have had to cancel games because of not enough kids,” Matsook said. “It was more or less a survival thing for Western Beaver. Geographically, it makes sense, and myself and [ Lincoln Park athletic director] Mike Bariski have worked really hard to make it work.”
The Lincoln Park players on the Western Beaver team come from a number of different areas in Western Pennsylvania. The Bradfords are from Clairton, as well as offensive tackle Che Fuqua.
The cooperative sponsorship between the two schools has made for a small melting pot of sorts. Many of the Lincoln Park players are Black while Western Beaver is a team that has been primarily white over the years. Matsook praised the way the players from two different schools have molded together in a number of ways.
“I told the guys this in the summer time and I truly mean this,” Matsook said. “If our country would take on the same tone of these guys, the way they respect each other and have come together, our country would be a lot better place. From a small fish bowl, this is a microcosm of the way things can be in our country. It’s an attitude of, ‘ Hey, we’re all in this together and let’s go.’
“I think this co- op has a real opportunity going forward and could roll pretty well for a decent number of years.”
TV time
WPCW televised the first of its Saturday night games with the Pine- Richland at Penn Hills contest this past Saturday.
The station has gotten a few schools to move their games to Saturday, and WPCW will have three more live Saturday telecasts on the final three weeks of the regular season. They are Peters Township at Moon ( Oct. 10), Aliquippa at Montour ( Oct. 17) and McKeesport at Thomas Jefferson ( Oct. 24).
The station also plans to televise WPIAL playoff games, but plans for championship games are up in the air at this point. The WPIAL still hasn’t decided when or where the championships will be played, but it’s almost certain none of the title games will be at Heinz Field.
Meanwhile, 22 The Point will continue with its Friday Night Rivals telecasts for the rest of the regular season, with a Thursday night game thrown into the mix. This week, the station will air Penn Hills at North Hills on Thursday, and Keystone Oaks at Central Valley on Friday.
The other games on The Point will be West Allegheny at South Fayette ( Oct. 16) and Central Catholic at Baldwin ( Oct. 23).
Catholic League schedule
On the eastern side of the state, the Philadelphia Catholic League has released its schedule now that the league will have fall sports after all.
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia originally canceled all fall sports in August, but changed course a little more than a week ago. That meant the Catholic League and a few strong teams could have a shortened season.
St. Joseph’s Prep ( No. 1) and Archbishop Wood ( No. 3) are in the Post- Gazette state rankings in Class 6A and NeumannGoretti ( No. 3) is in the Class 3A top five. Catholic League teams in 6A will play three league games, starting Oct. 16. Teams can play other games outside the league if they choose.
There will not be a Catholic League championship game, but the league will have representatives in the PIAA playoffs in various classifications. The PIAA playoffs for the Class 6A team from the Catholic League begin Nov. 6- 7.
WPIAL meeting Tuesday
The WPIAL football committee will meet Tuesday to decide what to do with games that have been postponed because of COVID- 19. But don’t look for an announcement from the WPIAL after the meeting. WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said the league’s board of directors still must approve any recommendations from the football committee.
Check this out
• Four WPIAL teams are averaging more than 50 points a game. Serra ( 53.7) is first, followed by Clairton ( 53.0), Aliquippa ( 52.8) and North Catholic ( 51.8).
• Elizabeth Forward has the top defensive team, giving up only 2.0 points a game. PineRichland ( 6.7) is second and Washington ( 6.8) third.
• Shady Side Academy announced longtime athletic director Gene Deal will retire after the 2020- 21 school year. Deal is in his 31st year as athletic director. He also was Shady Side’s football coach for nine years ( 1983- 91) and also 1999.