Tri-County Football Classic could be headed to Fayette County
The Tri-County All-Star Football Classic has hopped from Peters Township High School to Ringgold High School to Trinity Middle School during its first seven years. Don’t be surprised if it comes to Fayette County for the eighth installment next year.
“I noticed we’ve gotten plenty of sponsorship from Fayette County, especially Uniontown,” game director Bill Ellis said. “The way the businesses there have supported this event and the players makes me think there’s a strong possibility the game could be played somewhere in Fayette County next year. There’s obviously a lot of interest there.”
Perhaps that’s in part due to the rise of Uniontown’s football program the past few years, which included an undefeated regular season in 2001, and Laurel Highlands’ emergence as a WPIAL playoff team this past season, in Class AAA.
Nearby Albert Gallatin, under coach Chuck Colburn, is another program headed in the right direction while battling at the Quad-A level. Ellis, a Point Park College graduate who lives in Finleyville, is an assistant coach for the Colonials.
Those three schools combined to put eight players on the South roster for this year’s game – three each from Uniontown and Laurel Highlands, and two from Albert Gallatin.
Each player who participated in this year’s event had a sponsor listed in the game program, and 13 of those were directly from Uniontown, meaning the city is throwing support to more than just its own athletes.
“We’ve always intended the game to rotate to different sites,” Ellis said. “We started at Peters Township and went to Ringgold for a few years and the last two have been at Trinity, and the game has gradually improved over that time.
“But when we sit down and meet and talk about where to play the game next year, I’m certainly going to bring up Fayette County. We feel like we have a lot of support from there … more than from any other area.”
Even if the game doesn’t wind up making its way to Fayette County in 2004, just being considered as a host for such an all-star game is a nod, and a boost, to this area’s football reputation.
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If you ever wonder how much of a fine line there is between the state champion and a first-round playoff loser in high school baseball or softball, all you have to do is look at this year’s WPIAL and PIAA tournaments.
Carmichaels won the Section 1-A title in softball, defeating section rival Chartiers-Houston twice along the way by scores of 10-6 and 1-0.
Coach Al McMinn’s Lady Mikes lost in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs. Meanwhile, the Lady Bucs reached the semifinals and went on to play in the state championship game.
It would seem Carmichaels was clearly superior to Chartiers-Houston when you look at the regular season, but it was the Lady Bucs who made the long playoff run.
In baseball, Brownsville lost to Ellwood City, 3-1, in the first round of the Class AA WPIAL playoffs. That result prompted a fan to come up to me as I was covering another playoff game later that same day and explain how the Wolverines simply weren’t that good and that Falcons coach Skooter Roebuck should’ve had his team better prepared for the game. Ellwood City would get killed in the next round is what the man said.
If you’re out there, sir, and you’re reading this, I’d like to point out that, from all accounts of the game that I heard, Brownsville played quite well, and that the Wolverines not only didn’t “get killed” in the second round, but they won … and then won again … and again … and again …
In fact, Ellwood City still hasn’t lost. The Wolverines swept through the postseason, winning the WPIAL and PIAA championships in the process.
Funny, the score of the state final was 3-1, the same score Brownsville lost by.
So Brownsville actually played well enough to almost knock off the eventual state champions.
Of course, if that fan were to talk to me again, I imagine he would see it a different way, and perhaps say something like this: “See, this obviously proves that Brownsville had enough talent to win the state title, and they just didn’t play up to their potential.”
The bottom line is Skooter Roebuck is one of the best baseball coaches in the area and has done a great job at Brownsville.
The best baseball coach in the area?
Clearly, it’s Bob Renzi of Connellsville.
Gee, I wonder if anyone over there is listening?
Rob Burchianti is assistant sports editor of the Herald-Standard and can be reached online at rvburchianti@hotmail.com.