Woodland Hills’ Miles Sanders extends Super Bowl streak for Big 33 Football Classic
By:
Sunday, January 29, 2023 | 6:32 PM
Miles Sanders makes a leaping catch for a touchdown in front of Maryland’s Jordan Hill during the Big 33 Football Classic between Pennsylvania and Maryland on June 18, 2016 at Hersheypark Stadium.
Miles Sanders prepares to play Maryland during the Big 33 Football Classic between Pennsylvania and Maryland on June 18, 2016 at Hersheypark Stadium. Pennsylvania won 26-14.
The Big 33 Football Classic’s Super Bowl streak lives on, thanks to a former WPIAL star.
Woodland Hills’ Miles Sanders, who played in the high school all-star game in 2016, is headed to Super Bowl LVII next month with the Philadelphia Eagles. Every Super Bowl has included at least one Big 33 alumni, a streak Sanders now continues.
The Eagles running back scored twice in Sunday’s 31-7 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game.
The Super Bowl is Feb. 12 in Arizona.
According to Big 33 records, the streak started when Philadelphia native Herb Adderley played for the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl I and II. Adderley played in the first Big 33 game in 1957.
In the years since, the game’s alumni list grew to include Joe Namath, Tony Dorsett, Joe Montana, Ben Roethlisberger, Darrelle Revis and many other Super Bowl players.
Sanders, a fourth-year NFL running back, earned Big 33 team MVP honors in 2016. The Woodland Hills star scored three times as Pennsylvania defeated Maryland, 26-14, at Hersheypark Stadium.
He reached the end zone that day on a 21-yard catch and runs of 5 and 19 yards.
However, Sanders won’t be the only former Big 33 player in this year’s Super Bowl. Kansas City Chiefs players Frank Clark and Chad Henne are both Big 33 alumni, as well. Clark represented Ohio in the 2011 game, and Henne quarterbacked Pennsylvania in 2004.
The Chiefs defeated the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20, Sunday night in the AFC Championship.
The Big 33 streak was safe entering Sunday since all four remaining NFL teams had at least one alumnus on their roster. The 49ers had three: Kevin Givens, Robbie Gould and Tyler Kroft.
Cincinnati’s Tyler Boyd of Clairton played in the 2013 Big 33 game. Boyd helped extend the streak last season when the Bengals reached the Super Bowl.
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.
Tags: Woodland Hills
More High School Football
• 5 things to watch in H.S. football: WPIAL finals at Acrisure Stadium bring added excitement and sometimes new shoes• Fierce defenses square off when Pine-Richland, Peters Township meet in WPIAL title rematch
• Trib HSSN PIAA football preview capsules for Week 13
• Through the Years: 40 years ago, Freeport finally got the better of nemesis Jeannette
• Kiski Area football coach Sam Albert hangs up head coach’s whistle after 3 decades
