Published Saturday, Dec. 6, 1997
BACK TO HERALD...
Champs: small of stature, big of heart
 Jeff Greenburg Eye on You  |
Cynicism abounds _ and for good reason _ when issues such as eligibility, PIAA finances, and, yes, even big, bad Berwick arise.
But every once in a while something or someone comes along that is so overwhelming it can't help but restore one's faith in scholastic sports. Friday, following a 10-7 victory over Riverside, it was the PIAA Class A state champion Sharpsville Blue Devils football team who did the restoring.
Certainly we here in Mercer County have had our share of success in recent years, but there was something unique about this band of Blue Devils and their championship _ the first in school annals.
 Mark Ramsey pulls in a pass for a nice gain by the Sharpsville sideline. (David E. Dale/Herald) |
Sharpsville, on the other hand, was the embodiment of the Little Team That Could, an undersized group of underdogs who through sheer heart and desire imposed their will upon opponents from start to finish, and in doing so captured the hearts of many.
The Blue Devils certainly had talent, but so did Riverside, so did Riverview, so did Bellwood-Antis, and so did many others.
Was Sharpsville a team of destiny that got some lucky breaks along the way? Perhaps, but there's plenty of worse fates than being pegged a ``team of destiny.''
And so as this improbable, heart-warming, gut-wrenching football season comes to a close, a lifetime of memories can begin for the Blue Devils' players, coaches and fans.
Congratulations!
There had to be a multitude of mixed emotions running through the mind of Sharpsville standout Reggie Burns, who was forced to the sidelines with a knee injury in the Bellwood-Antis victory.
Standing on crutches and wearing his No. 35 jersey at Altoona's Mansion Park Friday, one could just see the emotion flowing through the junior running back, hoping by some miracle that he would have been healthy enough to play in the biggest game of his career.
``I wanted to play today,'' Burns said. ``But the doctors said I couldn't. But I'll be back next year better than ever and ready to play.''
Sharpsville fans and others are going to get a treat when WWIZ (104 FM) re-broadcasts the state championship game at 6 p.m. Sunday.
In fact, I often wonder if area fans realize how lucky they are to have the local radio stations, WWIZ and WPIC (790 AM), follow high school sports such as they do? South Park, the team that eliminated Wilmington in the semifinals, has no stations carrying its AA state title game today against South Williamsport.
As a direct result of both stations' efforts, many local fans, who otherwise might have missed the games because they couldn't attend, have been able to hear those contests.
Finally, the luck ran out for the Sharpsville Blue Devils. One of the team buses broke down in Altoona prior to the team leaving for home Friday night, a break down that eventually delayed their arrival in the Valley by some three hours.
The Associated Press reported this week that this would likely be the last time for at least several years that Altoona would play host to the PIAA football championships.
Not so, PIAA liason and Altoona School District athletic director Tom Bradley said Friday.
``We're not sure what the source of that story was, but (the PIAA) claimed it didn't come from them,'' Bradley told The Herald. ``We just got the proposal forms last week, which we were very happy to receive.''
Those forms must be turned in to the PIAA by Jan. 16, Bradley said.
Altoona's contract runs only through this weekend's four games at Mansion Park Stadium, and the PIAA hasn't extended it. The word out of PIAA headquarters is that the PIAA might award the games to Hershey for the next two years. Altoona could get the games back several years after that, perhaps as part of a rotation of the finals between the two cities.
``We're still very confident we have the total package here in Altoona,'' Bradley said. ``And if it's evaluated fairly we can't see any reason why they won't come back to Altoona.''
HersheyPark Stadium recently underwent a facelift that includes an enclosed press box, new spectator seating and a refurbishing of its concession stands. The stadium also added a new playing field that has synthetic fibers woven amid natural grass, creating a hybrid surface that stands up to rain and mud better than all-grass fields. But can it possibly hold up as well as artificial turf?
Hershey will be more accessible for eastern teams, but Altoona, particularly Bradley, has done an outstanding job of hosting the games since 1991 _ Altoona's only major liability is lack of on-site parking _ and short of Mansion Park burning to the ground Altoona deserves to continue hosting them.
Jeff Greenburg is assistant sports editor of The Herald.
