Guido: A-K Valley teams benefit from Week Zero

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, August 23, 2017 | 7:51 PM

The 118th season of high school football in the Alle-Kiski Valley is just a day away, so let's set the stage for the new season.

Once again, a number of schools have scheduled Week Zero games. These are games held in lieu of a second scrimmage for teams that would like to get a varsity game under their belts, particularly those who have early conference games.

It's also a vehicle to keep geographic rivalries together, such as Friday's Apollo-Ridge at Leechburg game, where the Blue Devils begin their 98th football season.

The original Apollo-Leechburg rivalry dates to 1919 when Owens Field opened.

Also, Springdale will be at Burrell. Those schools first locked horns in 1965 as members of the old, but still well-regarded, Allegheny Interscholastic Conference.

New Springdale coach Seth Napierkowski will return to his alma mater to make his coaching debut.

Napierkowski certainly has experience running varied offenses. While at Burrell from 2006-08, he played under three different offensive coordinators in three years, then experienced other philosophies while at Carnegie Mellon.

Freeport will begin its second season at its new stadium against Yough with a special kickoff time of 6 p.m.

Plum will get its season rolling Saturday night against Penn Hills at North Allegheny's Newman Stadium at 7 p.m.

Staying at Davis Field

Kiski Area was hoping to begin its 56th season with new digs, but school officials announced late last week that the Cavaliers once again will play at Davis Field in downtown Vandergrift.

That includes Friday's Week Zero opener against Canon-McMillan.

The school district employed a piecemeal approach in getting the on-campus stadium built over the past several years.

The climax was supposed to be this summer when the bleachers, press box and restrooms were built.

A snag developed, however, when Allegheny Township required a fire alarm at the new stadium.

The township, to its credit, granted Kiski Area a variance on the fire alarm requirement since the stadium is not enclosed.

If you're at an outdoor venue and fire breaks out, you should pretty much be able to realize it.

That being said, I'll never forget the photo in the 1969 year-end edition of Sports Illustrated where a high school continued to play while its school was burning down in the background with firefighters on the scene.

Kiski Area was hoping to play its final home game against Armstrong at the new stadium, but that will not take place.

Highlands at 50

It might be hard for some to believe, but Highlands will begin its 50th football campaign next week in a game at Ambridge.

The merger between Har-Brack and Tarentum played its first game Sept. 6, 1968, a 12-6 loss to North Catholic.

The school district is planning on a reunion of Highlands players, particularly from that first team, on Sept. 15 when the Golden Rams host Knoch.

Highlands alumni interested in attending are invited to contact the school's athletic office at 724-226-1000, ext. 6114.

On cable

Once again, Comcast Channel 190 in the A-K Valley will show high school football replays.

Bob Tatrn, in his 58th year of broadcasting, will have selected Valley and Burrell home games, with each of those school's away games at Deer Lakes as add-ons. Replays will be each Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., starting with the upcoming Springdale-Burrell game.

The exception will be Sept. 5.

For the 17th straight season, all Highlands games with Mike Pavlik and Mike Choma can be seen Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m., beginning with the Highlands-Ambridge game Sept. 5.

George Guido is a Valley News Dispatch scholastic sports correspondent.

Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Burrell, Freeport, Highlands, Kiski School, Leechburg, Plum, Springdale