‘It’s like a rebirth’
High school football is back in Western Pa.
High school football is part of the fabric of Western Pennsylvania on late summer and fall Friday nights. Following a 2020 season like no other because of COVID-19, pretty much all of the pageantry and tradition of high school football returned Friday — and it felt good to so many.
If you heard a thump-thump sound around the region Friday night, it was the strong heartbeat of the 108th season of WPIAL football.
“It’s like a rebirth,” said Rick Dworek, whose son, Ryan, is a starting senior running back at Seneca Valley High School.
Stadiums had big crowds again. Fans watched without masks. Full squads of cheerleaders cheered. Full bands played fight songs and performed halftime shows. Student
sections reappeared. Visiting locker rooms were used.
Heck, even concession stands were operating. The scent of boiled hot dogs never smelled so good, and hard soft pretzels — those figure-eights of once-soft dough that have sat around for so long that they might break your teeth — never tasted better.
“I think this is what my son always dreamed about when he started playing at a younger age,” Mr. Dworek said. “It was good last year, but the whole scene of high school football wasn’t there.”
Everyone from fans to cheerleaders and coaches to players had a certain sense of freedom at high school stadiums Friday, the first night of games in the state. That’s because restrictions are pretty much gone for WPIAL schools— at least for now.
The Post-Gazette surveyed 30 athletic directors around the WPIAL, from different areas and from large schools to small schools. While controversy swirls at some over mask mandates for students during the school day, not one school surveyed had any restrictions for their football games — or any outdoor sporting event this fall. Quaker Valley is asking that masks be worn in the concession stand area, the press box and bathrooms. Also, some teams are requiring players to wear masks when traveling to away games on buses. But that’s it.
About a third of the schools surveyed will require masks for fans at indoor sporting events, such as volleyball. Those schools also will require masks for coaches and athletes on the
sideline at indoor fall events, but masks aren’t required for athletes when they’re participating.
At football games, though, it’s a sense of normalcy again. A year ago, stadiums had crowds of only a couple of hundred fans because of limitations mandated by health departments. Many schools gave only two tickets to every player, band member and cheerleader. Visiting teams weren’t permitted to dress in locker rooms. Fans had to social distance in the stands. Concession stands weren’t open. Players wore masks on the sidelines. Only partial bands were permitted to perform at some schools. Visiting fans weren’t allowed to attend some games. And many schools didn’t even allow
students to attend games.
Before Friday’s MoonSeneca Valley game, Seneca Valley principal Bob Ceh glanced at players warming up and then at the large Seneca Valley student section that was dressed in all white and filled up one section of the stands.
“One of the neatest things I got to do over the last few days was make an announcement in the school that student tickets were on sale in the athletic office,” Mr. Ceh said with a smile. “We hadn’t done that in over a year because we didn’t have students at games.”
Moon’s student section also was large — and boisterous.
“We dressed only half our team for games last year,” Moon coach Ryan Linn said.
“There’s a renewed sense of excitement. We even talked about it with the team in pregame. Then our student section was great. Both student sections were great. There was just that energy in the stadium that you didn’t feel at all last year.”
High school football is like a lot of things since the pandemic hit. You don’t know how good something is until part of it is taken away. Sure, there was still WPIAL football last year. Championships were staged. But the whole high school football experience was a shell of itself. It’s “for real” again this year.
“Last year, with all the restrictions and protocols and rules, we adapted,” Seneca Valley coach Ron Butschle said. “But it always felt like you were wearing your shoes on the wrong feet.”
Mr. Butschle also is a teacher at Seneca Valley.
“You could feel the school buzzing [Friday],” he said. “It was so nice to have teachers and kids say, ‘Hey coach, good luck tonight.’ We all missed that last year. I mean, there were tumbleweeds blowing down the school hallways last year. Being in school is part of high school and one thing that makes it great. These guys missed out on things like wearing their jerseys to school.”
Seneca Valley athletic director Heather Lewis added, “I think the communities have waited a long time for this.”
Last year, many schools aroundthe WPIAL streamed football games and many other sporting events so people could still watch the games. Some schools will continue to stream games this year.
“This is the first time in about two years since the pandemic started where we’ll have students at a game. We had no students at events last year,” said Lou Cerro, athletic director and football coach at Montour.
Montour has no restrictions for football games.
“It was weird last year,” Mr. Cerro said. “I sense a lot of excitement for people to do almost everything they were able to do before. But we talked to the team. You never know what can happen. It could get shut down again. You just have to make sure you enjoy it and take advantage of everything.”
Blackhawk is one of the schools that will require fans, coaches and athletes to wear masks at indoor sporting events. But athletes can take off the masks when they’re playing.
“I think in general people are just excited to go back and watch any type of sporting event, volleyball, football or soccer,” said Zack Hayward, Blackhawk’s football coach and athletic director. “Live streaming an event was nice for people just to watch. But the biggest thing is they just want to be there.”
A year ago, crowd limitations were so small for indoor events that girls volleyball players sometimes sat in the hallway or locker room next to the gym while the game was going on, and they only entered the gym when they substituted for another player.
“I think what we’ve seen play out in public is that the mask issue is a very polarizing issue in many districts,” said Ms. Lewis, the Seneca Valley AD. “I think that polarizing sentiment will probably still exist, even with some people at indoor events, whether it’s a volleyball game, concert or musical. All we ask for is just respect for protocols that we have to abide by. School boards were put in a tough position and hadto make decisions.”
Added Mr. Butschle: “You never know if things could come to a grinding halt again. When you have to practice football on a Tuesday and it’s 95 degrees, that sucks. It’s hard to say that you really appreciate this. But what we talk to the kids about is they’ll never get their high school football days back again. Appreciate it. It’s nice to have it back this year.”