A look ahead to 2018 football schedules
One of the unfortunate aspects of writing a weekly column such as this one is the issue of timeliness.
There have been more than a few times that a topic has popped up that I really wanted to discuss, but chose not to because it was already well off the front page of most daily publications and websites.
However, I have decided to break my own rule and voice my opinion concerning the 2018 WPIAL football schedules that were released last week. As most of you know, when it comes to the five Greene County schools, the powers that be did the local teams very few favors.
The unfortunate poster boys for this situation are the Waynesburg Central Raiders. After already getting stuck in a ludicrous 3-A conference that includes five Beaver County teams, Keystone Oaks and South Park, it was then announced that the Raiders’ non-conference opponents were Burrell and Ambridge. Both of those games will be played on the road.
In case you are curious, a trip to Burrell is scheduled to take an hour-and-a-half, assuming no traffic problems/slowdowns around Green Tree, Mt. Lebanon, etc. WCHS could avoid Pittsburgh traffic and tack on extra 10 minutes or so by going on I-70 East.
Waynesburg’s jaunt to Class AAAA opponent Ambridge, which is yet another Beaver County team, is a bit more reasonable at around 70 minutes. Again, assuming no problems on I-79.
Not only will the travel be a headache, but the Raiders were thrown into definitely the tougher of the two 3-A conferences. Aliquippa, Beaver Falls, Central Valley and Quaker Valley have all won WPIAL titles in the last eight years, and all but Central Valley have been state champions. South Park is coming off an appearance in this past fall’s WPIAL postseason.
Moving east, Carmichaels’ move up into Class AA has honestly left them in a pretty good spot in terms of travel. It’s also created match-ups with the likes of Beth-Center, McGuffey and Brownsville that should stoke excitement in the fan base. Assuming he is still the head coach at Washington in 2019, and there’s no immediate reason to assume he won’t, next year’s showdown with the Prexies will mark Mike Bosnic’s first game in Carmichaels since 2008.
However, there is a glaring omission from the Mikes’ schedule: Jefferson-Morgan.
One of the longest running rivalries in the WPIAL, if not the Commonwealth, will not see its 93rd chapter play out in 2018. I talked with J-M head coach Aaron Giorgi recently and he told me that there was mutual effort from both schools to get the game put on the schedule before it was released. Apparently, those efforts proved fruitless and has to make fans wonder just how much the WPIAL cares about the individual needs and wants of its members outside of the larger schools with the richer, more vocal boosters.
So just who will the Rockets play in place of the Mikes? J-M will hit the road on back-to-back weeks to face Review and Our Lady of Sacred Heart before ending the season with back-to-back home tilts against West Greene and Bentworth. A trip to Riverview will take between 70 and 90 minutes from Jefferson, while the trip to OLSH will likely last a little over an hour.
I’m pretty sure Carmichaels and Jefferson-Morgan could walk to the opponents’ field in less time than either of those road trips.
One final side note: If anyone in Greene County would like to get an up-close look at one of the most storied programs in District 7, then mark off your calendars for Aug. 31 and Oct. 12. On those days, the Clairton Bears will make their non-conference road trips to Mapletown and West Greene, respectively.
To say that the next two years of Greene County high school football will be unlike any we have seen in recent memory is an understatement. Hopefully, some sanity will return to Friday nights starting in 2020.