PIAA football playoffs: 30 years in 30 days — Central Catholic claims state title in ’88

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, November 6, 2018 | 4:33 PM

The PIAA had been hosting state playoffs in all but one fall high school sport since 1976. Soccer, volleyball, tennis, golf, cross country and field hockey all crowned state champions once the district playoffs concluded.

The lone exception to the fall state playoff slate was high school football.

It wasn’t until 1988 when PIAA officials finally pulled the trigger on the idea of having a yearly state football playoff.

From George Novak and Woodland Hills losing in a mud pit to Bob Palko and West Allegheny finding the third time really was the charm to Neil Walker and Pine-Richland competing in a heartbreaking overtime loss in a snowstorm and to Tyler Boyd and the golden Bears of Clairton winning four straight state championships.

There have been a lot of thrills and heartbreak in three decades of state championship football. Leading up to the 2018 state finals, the TribLIVE High School Sports Network will look back at how WPIAL teams have fared in the PIAA championships with 30 years in 30 days.

The Year: 1988

The Sites: Penn State in State College, Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Mansion Park in Altoona, Shippensburg University

The Champs: Central Catholic, Berwick, Bethlehem Catholic and Camp Hill

The Headline: WPIAL runner-up Central Catholic wins state crown

The Lowdown: While the PIAA football playoffs run smoothly all these years later, it took nearly a decade to kick off the state tournament after many other fall sports postseasons were debuted by the PIAA.

There was great hesitation among school districts across the state, especially in the WPIAL where administrators wondered if they wanted what many considered a long football season already to continue with a PIAA playoff.

Another problem in that first year was a convoluted point system to help determine which teams would qualify. Even the abacus couldn’t figure it out. It made the Gardner points and WPIAL tiebreaker points system look like simple elementary school math.

There were many school districts that were against the idea and decided not to be part of it. One of them happened to win the WPIAL Class AAAA champion that year, Upper St. Clair.

The team the Panthers beat at Three Rivers Stadium was Central Catholic, and the Vikings had no issues with their season continuing after taking home district silver.

Central Catholic beat Brashear from the City League in the PIAA semifinals, 19-14, before facing future NFL tight end Kyle Brady and Cedar Cliff on a bitterly cold day at near-empty Beaver Stadium.

Junior running back Mike Campolo was the star of the day for the Vikings, as he carried the ball 33 times for 116 yards and scored on a pair of 2-yard runs, the second breaking a 7-7 tie in the fourth quarter as Central Catholic won the first of its four PIAA crowns, 14-7.

Two other WPIAL teams reached the title game in that inaugural PIAA playoff season only to settle for silver.

• Aliquippa was shut out by Berwick at Hersheypark Stadium, 13-0, in the Class AAA finals, as the Bulldogs defense held the Quips to 38 yards rushing and 78 total yards of offense.

• In the Class AA title game at Mansion Park, Bethlehem Catholic knocked off Wilmington, 26-11. The Greyhounds were led that year by Blair Sweet, who rushed for over 2,000 yards that season.

Wilmington actually played in Class A in the WPIAL during the regular season but participated in the PIAA Class AA playoffs.

Wilmington remained a member of the WPIAL for another six years before moving to District 10 in 1994.

Don Rebel is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Don at drebel@tribweb.com or via Twitter @TheDonRebel.