WPIAL football teams welcome return to traditional ‘Friday night lights’ atmosphere
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Thursday, August 26, 2021 | 1:23 PM
The Derry student section cheers at the start of a game against Mount Pleasant Friday, Sept.13, 2019, at Derry Area High School.
The Central Valley football team waits to take the field at the start of the PIAA Class 3A state championship game against Wyomissing Area on Friday, Nov. 27, 2020, at Hersheypark Stadium.
Southmoreland student section cheers as their team takes the field against McGuffey on Friday, Sept. 27, 2019 at Southmoreland High School’s Russ Grim Field.
Central Valley’s Josh Campbell (52) hoists the PIAA Class 3A championship trophy with his teammates after defeating Wyomissing Area, 35-21, in the state final on Friday, Nov. 27, 2020, at Hersheypark Stadium.
Derry Area High School student section cheers during a play against Freeport on Friday night, Aug. 30, 2019 at Derry Area High School.
Norwin fans watch from outside the stadium as they play Hempfield on Friday, Sept. 11, 2020 at Norwin Senior High School.
The North Allegheny student section cheers after a Tigers’ score at Wright Field at Newman Stadium on Sept. 20, 2019, during a game against Mt. Lebanon.
Central Valley head coach Mark Lyons watches practice on Aug. 9, 2021, in Center.
Masked referees stand in front of empty beaches during the national anthem at Valley High School as the Vikings take on the Burrell Bucs Friday, Sept. 11, 2020.
Valley’s Justin Hooper and Burrell’s Alex Arledge watch as referee John Skovran flips a coin before the start of a game Sept. 11, 2020, at Valley. Fans were not permitted in the stadium.
Burrell High School’s student section celebrates after a touchdown during their school’s game against Valley on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018.
Valley’s marching band takes the field during the halftime on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018.
In any other year, there might have been huge crowds at Sarge Alberts Stadium to witness one of the most dominant seasons in WPIAL football history.
Instead, like so many other parts of life in a pandemic, the Warriors’ fans celebrated remotely last fall.
“They shared in it,” coach Mark Lyons said, “but we missed an opportunity to fully share in our first state championship.”
Central Valley went undefeated last fall, celebrated WPIAL and PIAA titles and won their first 11 games under the running clock of the mercy rule. Yet, like other high school stadiums across Pennsylvania, the Warriors’ bleachers largely were empty because of pandemic-related restrictions.
The atmosphere was foreign to Friday nights.
Gone from stadiums were the electricity of a crowd and the chants of a student section. Lyons says he missed many of those taken-for-granted details, like the smiles on little kids’ faces as his players made their walk from the high school to the turf.
Now, as teams prepare to kick off another season, coaches, players, families and fans across Western Pennsylvania are wishing and praying for a more normal fall.
“I’m so excited to be able to walk down that ramp again and just see all of the little kids lined up and see our student body in the stands ready to go,” said Lyons, a former president of the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association and a former coach at Mt. Pleasant. “That’s the thing I’m excited about. That’s what high school sports are supposed to be about.”
The high school football season starts Friday with Week Zero games for the WPIAL teams that opted to replace their second scrimmage with a regular-season game. The majority of teams took that real-game option.
Gone will be the tight limits on gathering sizes put into place by the governor last fall, restrictions that led many schools to exclude fans, including players’ families. The restrictions also kept some teams from working out indoors last season and forced coaches to cancel many team-building traditions.
At Belle Vernon, like a number of stadiums, the marching band traditionally lines the team’s path to the field, a pregame ritual that didn’t take place last year. It’s a small detail, but the Leopards players are looking forward to that coming back this fall.
“It’s going to be a good feeling running out and having all the fans in the stands,” senior quarterback Devin Whitlock said, “and have our band and cheerleaders just cheer us on.”
Concerns remain because covid-19 cases appear to be on the rise, but with a year of experience dealing with the virus and vaccines readily available, teams are hoping for a sense of normalcy. Schools also are more experienced at handling individual covid cases, which should lead to fewer team-wide shutdowns.
The WPIAL showed its confidence by reserving Heinz Field for two days of football championships, Nov. 26-27. A year ago, the finals were held at high school venues.
“Obviously, we will see how covid develops and make adjustments if necessary,” WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said, “but it is our hope that sports can operate as close to normal as possible with safety precautions for those in attendance.”
Schools can have their stadiums open to full capacity.
Norwin started its 2020 season with no fans in the stands, but athletic director Mike Burrell anticipates plenty in attendance when the Knights host Penn-Trafford on Friday.
“I’m looking forward to the atmosphere, just having a big crowd on a Friday night,” Burrell said. “To have the band playing, the student section in the game, because last year we didn’t have it.”
High school football is built on team spirit and tradition.
Pine-Richland senior linebacker Jeremiah Hasley missed the camaraderie of pregame team dinners and pizza-night film sessions, events that were scaled down to increase distancing and limit potential covid spread.
There also were inconveniences. At times, teams couldn’t use their locker rooms on a chilly Friday night because of capacity limits, but Hasley said that paled in comparison to the lacking stadium atmosphere overall.
“As soon as you’d walk out of the tunnel you’d hear the music blasting, but there were no fans yelling,” said Hasley, a Duke recruit. “That’s what we really missed: that crowd, that excitement.”
Many football traditions don’t happen under the lights.
Kiski Area spent lunchtime on the last day of camp singing songs, a lighthearted tradition coach Sam Albert brought with him to the Cavaliers. It’s a team-building activity where first-year players perform for their teammates, but the funny acts were canceled last summer.
This year, three players sang a Backstreet Boys song. Two others in cowboy hats chose a country western hit with help from a senior. Coaches pick the three best acts to perform for parents on “meet the team” night. The winning act gets a plaque in the team’s weight room.
That fun was missing last year.
“Ten years from now, yeah, they’ll remember the games and the memories there,” he said. “But they’ll laugh harder about, ‘Hey, do you remember when someone sang and he had a cowboy hat?’ To me, that’s part of the football. It’s not just the game.”
The coaches aren’t left out of the fun. Albert and his colleagues once dressed up like cats and sang “What’s New Pussycat?” as part of parents’ night.
“I know some of those parents thought, ‘These guys are nuts,’” Albert said. “But the kids love that.”
Between the lines, football went on as usual last season despite a late start. But it was the missing fun from before, after and around the games that seems poised to return this fall.
“I’ve got to believe 75% to 80% of our student body is involved Friday night in some form, whether it’s playing, cheering, in the band, color guard or student body,” Lyons said of Central Valley. “That’s what we need. We need things for kids to do, to get together and get off their phones. Go out.
“Friday night offers that.”
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.
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