George Guido: Special homecomings on horizon for Deer Lakes, Highlands

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, September 18, 2018 | 7:24 PM

Homecomings will be special at two local high schools over the next several weeks.

Deer Lakes will celebrate its 50th Homecoming on Sept. 29 as the Lancers face Burrell for the 29th time.

The school district has put out a call to members of the first Lancers team in 1969 to be part of the festivities.

Deer Lakes had a 5-4 record that yearunder the late Jim Collins.

The highlight of the season was a mammoth upset over Kittanning on Oct.24 , 1969 .

Kittanning was rolling toward a berth in the WPIAL finals. At the time, only undefeated and untied teams were eligible for WPIAL title consideration. The two schools with the most Gardner Points played in a one-game, winner-take-all.

Along came the Lancers to derail Kittanning’s title hopes 21-12.

At an Armstrong County Sports Hall of Fame induction banquet several years back, master of ceremonies, the late Dave “Red” Ullom, Kittanning’s coach at time, got in an irresistible needle toward Collins, there representing the WPIAL office that night.

For more details, log on to the school district’s website: deerlakes.net, hit schools, then Deer Lakes High School for high school news.

Highlands, meanwhile, also is recognizing its 50th anniversary by inviting back members of the three undefeated Golden Rams teams: 1976, ‘98 and 2008.

Highlands will face Beaver for the first time that night.

That 1976 team was fun to watch. Highlands at the time was playing in the West Penn Conference, made up of the schools in the largest enrollment classification.

Highlands finished the regular season 7-0-2, with the ties against preseason favorites Gateway and North Allegheny.

The Golden Rams team , under coach Fran Rogel, was the epitome of the gritty, riverfront steeltown football that is steeped in folklore around the WPIAL.

For more information on homecoming, contact Mike Choma at 724-472-2180.

Friday with Penn State

As if high school football attendance isn’t bad enough, now athletic directors have to wonder if Penn State appearing on national television Friday will have a negative effect on the gates.

The 10th-ranked Nittany Lions will be playing at Illinois at 9 p.m. on FS1.

High school officials have to be wondering, particularly if their schools are off to subpar starts, if casual fans might stay home, even though Penn State is a 28-point favorite and probably won’t break a sweat.

It’s exactly for that reason that Penn State officials have said there won’t be any Friday night games at Beaver Stadium.

The saving grace for high schools might be the fact that many cable subscribers might not get FS1.

The last time Penn State played on a Friday night was in the 1990 Blockbuster Bowl against Florida State in Miami .

But on Friday, Jan. 2, 1987, the Nittany Lions played for the national championship against Miami in Tempe, Ariz.

That night, a considerable number of Alle-Kiski Valley schools moved their basketball games to 5:30 or 6 p.m. so fans could get home and watch Penn State.

George Guido is a Valley News Dispatch scholastic sports correspondent. His column appears Wednesdays.