Lori Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 I know there are several southwestern NY/northcentral PA natives here, so figured I'd toss you the score before heading off to get some shuteye. (And thank goodness I'm not on deadline tonight, because it's been a long day.) We thought this would be a fairly even matchup, but it was no contest -- Pennsy ran over, around, and through the NY defense for more than 300 yards, and their D never let the Empire State squad get past midfield. While I can think of a few words to describe that kind of performance, I doubt any of them would be better than the one PA head coach Steve Ackerman chose: "Domination. You dream about doing that, but you don't think it can happen." The play of the game had to be Jerico Weitzel's diving 25-yard touchdown catch just before halftime. I was standing at the 10 when Kane quarterback Zach Anderson put the ball up, and I thought, "There's no way he's going to catch up to that." I started to change my mind when Weitzel hit the 5, and I remembered who I was watching. As he crossed the goal line, I said to the photographer standing next to me, "He's there." And get this: the kid not only missed most of his senior season at Ridgway with a broken collarbone, he's got a full scholarship to Florida for baseball. In other words, he had every reason not to lay out for that ball ... but he did, and he hung on to it. Oh, and that was after the seven first-half carries for 73 yards, and the 45-yard punt return touchdown that was negated by a block-in-the-back penalty. NCAA rules apparently prohibit selecting MVPs in all-star games like this one, but he would've had my vote ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HtownBillsFan Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 My cousin played in it for NY. Didnt make it to the game, but man thats not good. He played defense, was going to be the starting DE but told me that they were low in numbers and ended up playing corner! Dont know if he actually played it in the game, but they had switched him over in practice. Doesnt look like the d did too well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffaloed in Pa Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 Small school game Single A,I guess. My son`s played at Clearfield. Well the youngest is just starting his High school sports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 That's nothing. New Hampshire-42, Vermont-0. Eighth win in a row. Vermont, what a bunch of lightweights. PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted August 3, 2008 Author Share Posted August 3, 2008 Small school game Single A,I guess. My son`s played at Clearfield. Well the youngest is just starting his High school sports. Nope -- the "Big 30" refers to the 30 football-playing schools in the Olean Times Herald's coverage area in the late 1960s, when the TH sports editor at the time, the late Mike Abdo, came up with the name. Mostly small schools, true, but Bradford, Warren, St. Marys, and Olean, NY are all represented. So: Potter/McKean/Warren/Cameron/Elk counties in PA, Cattaraugus/Allegany in NY. (Apologies if I'm missing anyone, but I don't believe they go into Erie or Chautauqua county.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted August 3, 2008 Author Share Posted August 3, 2008 My cousin played in it for NY. Didnt make it to the game, but man thats not good. He played defense, was going to be the starting DE but told me that they were low in numbers and ended up playing corner! Dont know if he actually played it in the game, but they had switched him over in practice. Doesnt look like the d did too well! Got the stats now; PA had 66 carries for 327 yards. Weitzel ended up with 13-107 plus the touchdown reception, and the two Bradford RBs (Nick Johnson and Taylor O'Brien) combined for 23-161 and three rushing TDs. Ackerman runs the Wing-T, and when it's working right, it can just chew up a defense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fires Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 Got the stats now; PA had 66 carries for 327 yards. Weitzel ended up with 13-107 plus the touchdown reception, and the two Bradford RBs (Nick Johnson and Taylor O'Brien) combined for 23-161 and three rushing TDs. Ackerman runs the Wing-T, and when it's working right, it can just chew up a defense. Thanks for the update Lori... How does the new Artificial Turf look at Bradford High? BTW, Buffaloed... Small world..I went out for Varsity FB in Clearfield, but ended up moving to Bradford my Jr. year. Broke my knee before season and pretty much ended my FB career.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted August 4, 2008 Author Share Posted August 4, 2008 Thanks for the update Lori... How does the new Artificial Turf look at Bradford High? BTW, Buffaloed... Small world..I went out for Varsity FB in Clearfield, but ended up moving to Bradford my Jr. year. Broke my knee before season and pretty much ended my FB career.. The view from field-level: sweet. It's Tigerturf -- not quite as fancy as the stuff at the Ralph, although it appears to have a similar shredded-tire infill. Noticed a couple small clouds of black "dust" when plays went to the ground. But it looks great, I didn't notice too many kids slipping ... and fortunately, since the threatened thundershowers never arrived, we didn't get to test the drainage system. I spent part of the game standing next to Neil Linderman, a staff writer for the Potter Leader-Enterprise (our sister paper based in Coudersport); we agreed that the rug was a definite upgrade. Here's a picture from last week: Bradford Era The end zones are red, with Bradford spelled out in block letters. WESB has some game photos/video up on their blog. (Bloody hell. I'm in one. Ah well, I'll leave the link there anyway.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fires Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 Thanks for the pics and update Lori. It looks really nice. I worked for Bradford schools for 5+ yrs. back in the 80's, including 1 yr at Bfd. High. Pics brought back some memories. Thanks for the links. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HopsGuy Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 Nope -- the "Big 30" refers to the 30 football-playing schools in the Olean Times Herald's coverage area in the late 1960s, when the TH sports editor at the time, the late Mike Abdo, came up with the name. Mostly small schools, true, but Bradford, Warren, St. Marys, and Olean, NY are all represented. So: Potter/McKean/Warren/Cameron/Elk counties in PA, Cattaraugus/Allegany in NY. (Apologies if I'm missing anyone, but I don't believe they go into Erie or Chautauqua county.) Funny you should mention Mike Abdo. I was at Angee's in Olean a couple of weeks ago and saw Mike's obit on the wall. I hadn't thought about him in a long time. He was a prince of a guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted August 4, 2008 Author Share Posted August 4, 2008 Funny you should mention Mike Abdo. I was at Angee's in Olean a couple of weeks ago and saw Mike's obit on the wall. I hadn't thought about him in a long time. He was a prince of a guy. Hat tip to Chuck Pollock for providing that information, which I used in last week's game preview. I was pretty sure of the time frame and had deduced that it was probably Mike's idea, but Chuck confirmed it (and listed all 30 schools to boot ... from memory, no doubt). You were in Olean, and you didn't even wave on the way by? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HopsGuy Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 Hat tip to Chuck Pollock for providing that information, which I used in last week's game preview. I was pretty sure of the time frame and had deduced that it was probably Mike's idea, but he confirmed it (and listed all 30 schools to boot ... from memory, no doubt). You were in Olean, and you didn't even wave on the way by? I waved. You must not have been looking up at the time. We were bumped from our usual round at Bartlett, so we played at Holiday Valley this year. We considered a couple of Pennsy tracks (Penn Hills, Pine Acres), but my vote for Indian Echo was ignored. They treated us pretty well up in E-ville, though. We might return. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted August 4, 2008 Author Share Posted August 4, 2008 I waved. You must not have been looking up at the time. We were bumped from our usual round at Bartlett, so we played at Holiday Valley this year. We considered a couple of Pennsy tracks (Penn Hills, Pine Acres), but my vote for Indian Echo was ignored. They treated us pretty well up in E-ville, though. We might return. Probably because it's been closed for at least the last three years. Don't get me started on the owners' refusal to sell it for a fair price to someone who wanted to re-open it. Doesn't matter now anyway, because the borough is trying to take part of it via eminent domain ... Never played it, but Holiday Valley is a beautiful course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffaloed in Pa Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 Thanks for the update Lori... How does the new Artificial Turf look at Bradford High? BTW, Buffaloed... Small world..I went out for Varsity FB in Clearfield, but ended up moving to Bradford my Jr. year. Broke my knee before season and pretty much ended my FB career.. My son is the fullback on the junior high team, also play`s corner. The thing that puzzles me is why he`s the fullback when he has the fastest 40 time on his team. He also weighs 135 lbs. His older brother played there 10 yrs ago and weighed 185 in 8th grade and was a bit slower. Go figure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fires Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 My son is the fullback on the junior high team, also play`s corner. The thing that puzzles me is why he`s the fullback when he has the fastest 40 time on his team. He also weighs 135 lbs. His older brother played there 10 yrs ago and weighed 185 in 8th grade and was a bit slower. Go figure. Wow, thats funny... I too was one of the fastest guys in the 40. Only about 10 lbs. lighter than your son. They had me penciled in for a DB spot my Soph. yr in ('77), Dennis Baumgardner (sp) was our coach and he had an awesome off season training program. By the time off season training ended I was benching twice my weight. Back then, Clearfield was better known for it's Wrestling program under Coach Turner. I moved to Bradford, and despite the bad knee and not being able to play football, the Wrestling Coach found out I was from Clearfield and hammered me all the time to be one of his wrestlers.. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffaloed in Pa Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 Wow, thats funny... I too was one of the fastest guys in the 40. Only about 10 lbs. lighter than your son. They had me penciled in for a DB spot my Soph. yr in ('77), Dennis Baumgardner (sp) was our coach and he had an awesome off season training program. By the time off season training ended I was benching twice my weight. Back then, Clearfield was better known for it's Wrestling program under Coach Turner. I moved to Bradford, and despite the bad knee and not being able to play football, the Wrestling Coach found out I was from Clearfield and hammered me all the time to be one of his wrestlers.. LOL yeah you would have graduated with my wife if you stayed at Clfd. My oldest went to states in wrestling. The younger one is just coming around .He goes about 132-135 and benches 200 even. Not too bad for his size and age 14. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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