Erie's Cathedral Prep spends $4,000 for one day of practice

By The Associated Press

The PIAA football championships are 100 days away and varsity games won't begin until Friday, but already some of the top teams in Pennsylvania have met. Scrimmages matching some of the state's best programs have become more common in recent years.

Last weekend, for example, Erie Cathedral Prep, considered one of the state's best Class AAAA teams, traveled eight hours across the state to face defending PIAA Class AAA champion Allentown Central Catholic.

The cost to Prep: $4,000. For practice.

"It was worth it," said Erie Prep coach Mike Mischler, who said that the cross-state scrimmage was a "one-time thing."

Prep is accustomed to traveling long distances to find quality opponents in football and basketball, but an eight-hour hike for a practice might seem a bit much.

But Mischler defended the trip, saying that Prep needs to schedule quality opponents whenever it can.

"They gave us a great look," Mischler said of Allentown Central Catholic, which opens its state title defense with a new head coach, Bill DeNofa.

One night before the Prep-ACC scrimmage, two more Pennsylvania powers squared off in Doylestown when host Central Bucks West met Manheim Central.

CB West, the two-time defending PIAA Class AAAA champion, overwhelmed Manheim Central, a perennial Class AAA power.

Both teams are ranked in some national rankings, although some Quad-A coaches have complained for years that the ratings do not take into account the disparity between upper-echelon Class AAAA and Class AAA teams in Pennsylvania.

Manheim Central head coach Mike Williams said he was "embarrassed" by his team's performance. CB West scored four times against the varsity and had a fifth touchdown called back.

SCHEDULE PROBLEMS: Speaking of unusual schedules, Glen Mills is at it again.

The Delaware County school for troubled youths always has problems filling a schedule, and it appears the school's difficulties are even more acute this year.

Glen Mills will play just two Pennsylvania schools: Allentown Central Catholic (Sept. 18) and Bethlehem Catholic (Oct. 1).

The Battlin' Bulls will play two teams from Maryland, one from West Virginia, one from the District of Columbia, one from Ontario, one from Ohio (Cleveland St. Ignatius), and will take a road trip all the way to Douglas County, Colorado.

Bethlehem Catholic's first five games are just about as diverse. The Golden Hawks open on Friday at Lansdale Catholic, followed by road games at Harrisburg and Cincinnati Moeller, and a home game against St. Ignatius before traveling to Glen Mills.

Chester High School, a District 1 team, opens the season with seven straight road games before playing its home opener against Interboro on Oct. 30, about the time some schools are ending their seasons.

The school playing the most out-of-state opponents is Turkeyfoot Valley, located in southern Somerset County. The Rams play nine out-of-state opponents, all from West Virginia or Maryland.

They don't have a Pennsylvania team on the schedule until they host North Star on Nov. 6 in the 10th week of the season.

DECLARED INELIGIBLE: A Scranton area football player has been declared eligible after transferring to the school his former coach joined as head coach.

P.J. Gronski, a fullback and linebacker, transferred from Riverside High School in Taylor to Pittston Area High School, shortly after Steve Armillay, had left Riverside for the Pittston job.

Gronski was pulled from practice at Pittston on Aug. 24 after the PIAA declared him ineligible, but he received a temporary injunction from a Luzerne County judge the following day to continue practicing.

A hearing for a permanent injunction was canceled on Monday when Riverside decided to sign the principal's certification, clearing the way for Gronski to remain eligible.

Gronski was a Lackawanna Football Conference second-team all-star at Riverside, but moved in July to Pittston to live with his brother.

The District 2 committee has cleared the transfer for what is stated were academic reasons.

STEPPING DOWN: After 30 seasons and five schools, Eddie Burke is no longer a high school basketball coach. Unclear is whether his departure at St. Joseph's Prep in Philadelphia is a resignation or retirement.

Burke, 53, who remains at the school as director of alumni relations, was a head coach in 30 of the last 31 seasons, 16 at the high school level and 14 at Drexel University.

He coached at the Prep in Philadelphia from the 1968-69 to 1970-71 seasons, at St. Thomas More from 1972 until it closed in 1975, at Bishop McDevitt in 1976, at West Catholic in 1977, at Drexel from 1978 until 1991 and back at the Prep from 1992 until last season. His record is 425-383, 220-194 in high school and 205-189 at Drexel.

In the 1970-71 and 1971-72 seasons, Burke became the first coach in Catholic League history to produce back-to-back champions at different schools.

In the 1985-86 season, he steered Drexel to its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament with four city-leagues products: La Salle's Chris O'Brien, Engineering and Science's Michael Anderson, Monsignor Bonner's Walt Fuller and West Catholic's John Rankin.

ALMOST SIGNED AND SEALED: Tiffany Stansbury, a 6-foot-3 center who spent parts of last year at Franklin Learning Center and Philadelphia West Catholic, has given an oral commitment to George Mason.

Stansbury, who didn't play basketball last year while on academic probation, will attend the Riverdale Baptist School in Upper Marlborough, Md., this year.