5 things to watch in Week 1: A red-letter day in Aliquippa as the new Heinz Field opens

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, September 1, 2023 | 12:36 AM

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Not only is Aliquippa’s new football stadium named Heinz Field, but like its North Shore namesake, the Red Zone should be popular.

When the Quips cross the 20-yard line, the stadium’s new LED lights will flash red, Aliquippa athletic director Jennifer Damico said. The first game at the new stadium is Friday night, and the Quips are hoping to leave opponents seeing red all season long.

“We’ve been playing with the lights a lot, and I’m excited for (Friday),” Damico said. “They can turn red. They can flicker red. They can chase (around the stadium). So, we’re going to have a red zone. ”

The old, rusty light towers and the crumbling concrete stands are gone after Aliquippa renovated its nearly 100-year-old football stadium by installing metal bleachers, artificial turf, a video scoreboard and modern lights.

The Quips will welcome in the community Friday when they host Armstrong for a Week 1 game that’s drawing interest from fans in Aliquippa and beyond. The new stadium can hold around 3,000, Damico said, and there’s ample standing room.

“The rumor was that we were sold out of tickets even before I even put them out (for sale),” she said. “That’s been pretty funny. I thought playing Central Valley was a huge deal. This is way more intense.”

If there’s still room in the stadium, Damico said tickets will be sold at the gate. Adding to the interest is that the Quips played home games at Freedom last season while their stadium was razed and rebuilt from the ground up.

“People are just so excited to have a real home game,” Damico said.

The Quips have won more WPIAL football titles than anyone, and now have a home field that the players should be proud of, coach Mike Warfield said this summer. It troubled him that the players had practiced every day at rundown facilities, while kids at other schools had nicer stadiums.

He sees a bigger picture.

“I was hoping that if they have a sense of pride in this, they’d have a sense of pride in themselves,” Warfield said. “That’s what (coach Don) Yannessa used to do for us. This place used to be plush, so we had a sense of pride in it.”

Warfield credited superintendent Phillip Woods and the school board for supporting the project financially, along with many donors, some who remained anonymous. The largest contribution was a $1.3 million gift from Kraft Heinz that Warfield helped solicit.

“Sometimes I walk through here and say, ‘Man, I was dreaming about this,’” Warfield said of the stadium, “but this is better than the dream.”

Kraft Heinz is hosting a pregame tailgate Friday at the stadium from 4:30-6 p.m. The event includes games and free Kraft Heinz food, and the first 3,000 fans will receive an inaugural game T-shirt.

Willing to wait

While most of their WPIAL colleagues have already played a game, Sto-Rox and Steel Valley will share the field for their season openers Friday night in Munhall.

They’re among nine teams who didn’t play a game in Week Zero. The others were Aliquippa, Belle Vernon, Bishop Canevin, Burgettstown, Charleroi, Riverside and Rochester. For them, Week Zero remains optional, as originally intended.

WPIAL teams were sharply divided at first over what to do with Week Zero: Play a game or schedule a scrimmage? When the option was first introduced in 2016, half of the league chose a scrimmage, but sentiments quickly changed.

This year, 92% of WPIAL teams (108 of 117) played a game last weekend.

Bouncing back

If anybody in the WPIAL needs a bounce-back week, it might be Gateway (0-1) or Woodland Hills (0-1).

The two WPIAL Class 5A contenders stumbled in Week Zero against a couple of tough Class 6A opponents. Unfortunately, one of them will be 0-2 after this week since they face one another on Friday night. Woodland Hills hosts at the Wolvarena.

Gateway was held scoreless into the fourth quarter last Friday and lost to Mt. Lebanon, 28-7. Woodland Hills scored early but couldn’t keep pace in a 43-7 loss to Central Catholic.

No easy task

Some teams can ease into the season, but schedule makers didn’t give Avonworth (1-0) and Central Valley (1-0) that luxury.

The perennial WPIAL title contenders meet Friday at Avonworth in a nonconference game. They both reached Acrisure Stadium last season and finished as WPIAL runners-up, the Antelopes in Class 3A and the Warriors in 4A.

Both teams scheduled out-of-district opponents in Week Zero. Central Valley is coming off a 36-35 win at Austintown (Ohio) Fitch. Avonworth defeated Grove City, 35-14.

This one counts

WPIAL Class 6A has a quirky schedule with only five teams. As a result, North Allegheny will host Canon-McMillan in the first conference game of the season here in Week 1.

Most teams won’t start conference play until Week 3 or later.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Aliquippa