Illness, injuries force Rochester to postpone football game vs. Neshannock

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, September 12, 2025 | 1:41 PM

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With fewer than 10 healthy players, Rochester has postponed Saturday’s football game against Neshannock.

The game — a Class A Big 7 Conference contest — could be rescheduled for later in the season, said WPIAL chief operating officer Vince Sortino. If so, Sortino suggested the game might be played on a Monday or Tuesday.

He said there is no rule against playing more than one football game in a week.

“There is no ‘minimum days’ requirement between games,” said Sortino, while also acknowledging that players do need some rest.

Sortino said he talked with both school administrations throughout this week, and the teams were “trying their hardest” to play. He said Rochester, which started the season with 19 players, saw its available roster dwindle because of illness and injury.

The game originally was scheduled for Friday at Rochester.

“Their roster is small as it is,” Sortino said. “They moved the game to Saturday hoping they’d have more kids back who have the flu. But at yesterday’s practice, they had either eight or nine players.”

Don Phillips, a longtime WPIAL coach, was hired in February for his second stint at Rochester. The Rams’ 19-player roster includes six freshmen and six sophomores.

Rochester started the season with nonconference losses to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, 27-0; Freedom, 18-0; and Western Beaver, 41-6.

This week’s matchup would’ve been the conference opener for both Rochester (0-3) and Neshannock (2-1).

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.