Penn Hills middle school football proud of success on field, in classroom

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, October 20, 2024 | 11:01 AM

The Penn Hills Middle School football team got a good opportunity for some postseason experience Oct. 17 when it played Armstrong in the semifinals of the WAADA Football League. But Indians coach Mark Banner said that he is most proud of the program’s progress with having players be eligible to play.

“We’ve been able to maintain eligibility,” said Banner, who is a 1994 Penn Hills graduate. “That’s always been a crutch in the district. We mirror what the high school does. We check with teachers and have daily eligibility reports. That’s been the big thing.”

Banner is in his fifth year with the middle school program and said they have seen great success with increasing eligibility. A few years ago, the Indians only had 11 players available to play at the end of the year. Penn Hills saw that number increase to 41 by the end of last year.

Banner said the program appreciates the investment the district has made.

“We’ve got new uniforms. Usually, we would get the hand-me-downs from the high school,” Banner said. “We are playing night games. We want to show appreciation and have our kids understand the magnitude of this.”

Penn Hills (4-2, 4-1) finished the regular season in second place in the West Division behind Norwin. The Indians beat Penn-Trafford, Gateway, Belle Vernon and McKeesport to finish second in the conference.

Penn Hills also lost a crossover game to Hempfield. Norwin will host Kiski in the other semifinal.

“We have some serious speed,” Banner said. “This year, what we have that we haven’t had in the past is an offensive line. We are able to keep the quarterback safe and we can stretch teams out.”

Penn Hills has already equaled its win total from last season, when it went 4-4.

“For middle school, the goal is development,” Banner said. “We are seeing freshmen on the field in the high school games. We like to see them get their names called.”

Banner believes that giving kids an opportunity to play football is important for the community. He enjoys being involved to try to help the kids develop both on and off the field.

“It’s a lot more involved than football,” Banner said. “We talk about attitude, effort and accountability. Football is fourth or fifth on the list of things we talk about. I’d like to think we are making a difference. Some days are better than others. We want to get kids looking at the bigger picture and longer term.”

Tags: Penn Hills