Aug 30, 2006 By Jim Kriek For The 5 min read

What better way to get a football season inaugurated than to have the renewal of that sport’s oldest rivalry in Fayette County. Of course, such a battle would be better for later in the season, maybe the seventh or eighth week, or even the season’s windup. But conference schedule commitments being what they are, later dates can be a problem.

But no matter the time or place, all one has to say is “Connellsville against Uniontown” and that says it all.

When the scholastic football season starts Friday, the big game locally will be Connellsville at Uniontown, in the renewal of the oldest county rivalry, one that started in 1904. They haven’t played every year since then with numerous breaks in the schedule for various reasons, more recently because of conference commitments that didn’t leave a date suitable for both teams to continue the rivalry.

And when they line up on Friday night, Connellsville will have a double objective in mind – not only beating an old rival, but also evening the all-time series. Going into Friday, they have played 74 times over the years, with Uniontown leading 33-32. Connellsville holds the edge in shutout wins, 16-12.

There have also been nine ties, the last one 7-7 back in 1945. And it will stand as the last tie, for scholastic rules now decree that teams must reach a decision, no matter how many overtimes it takes.

Connellsville won last year’s clash, 34-14.

When the teams first met in 1904, they played three times, Connellsville winning one and the other two ending in ties. Connellsville won six of the next seven games, all by shutouts (two in 1906), with one scoreless tie in 1908, and in all that span, Uniontown scored only once, losing 14-6 in 1908.

Uniontown got its first win in 1909, and by no surprise, it was also a shutout, 5-0. There was no game in 1910, then Connellsville won the next two, 15-0 and 6-0. Reports of the time said that after the latter game, there was extensive post-game activity among the spectators, not all for the good.

So, the rivalry was suspended from then, through 1924, resuming again in 1925 with a scoreless tie. Uniontown won 17-6 in 1926, Connellsville 18-0, Uniontown 19-6, and then a 6-6 tie, with the game then being played every year through 1970.

Starting in 1930, Uniontown won six games, around two scoreless ties, before Connellsville found the range again, 7-0, in 1938. They tied 7-7 in 1939, then Connellsville won the next four, during which time coach Art Ruff developed one of the strongest programs the WPIAL had seen to that date. The Cokers won the four games (three shutouts) by a combined 113-12 score. The most lopsided win was 54-0 in 1941, when it appeared the Cokers were on their way to the WPIAL championship in their division.

Back then, there was no multi-team, month-long playoffs for the WPIAL championship. It was determined on the basis of Gardner points, and that year the Cokers looked to be on their way to the title. But Brownsville derailed that express in the season’s windup gaining a 13-13 tie, and under the Gardner System, losses or ties got a team thrown out of contention.

Uniontown won 13-7 in 1944, followed by the last tie score ever in the series, and Connellsville won the next two, 13-2 and 25-12. But then the tide turned, and where Connellsville had been so strong in the early days, Uniontown now took over, starting with four wins, (three shutouts) by a combined 107-6 total. Connellsville won 32-0 in 1952, Uniontown 19-7 and 28-0, and Connellsville again in 1955, by a 35-7 count.

But from then on, Uniontown was in charge as Bill Power was on his way to making the Red Raiders a byword in WPIAL football.

From 1956 through 1965, the Raiders made a sweep of the action, including a 54-0 rout in 1962, while on their way to the WPIAL championship. That run ended in 1966 when the two rivals played one of the most historic games in the storied series. UHS was leading 7-6 into the closing minute, then the late Jim Braxton kicked a field goal to give the Falcons a 9-7 win in one of the most physical games ever played between them. But even then the win wasn’t assured, for on the ensuing kickoff, John Hull came within a step of returning the kick all the way for UHS.

About 10 years after the game, during a reminiscent time, the late Stan McLaughlin, who coached that Falcon win, said with a smile, “The way those two teams hammered each other that night, some of them must still be hurting physically.”

Uniontown won three of the next four, and Connellsville won 24-8 in 1970, in what would be the last game until 1977, when conference commitments, etc., made it difficult to schedule games.

They resumed playing in 1977, Connellsville winning 6-0, and starting what would be a long domination of the series under new Falcon coach Dan Spanish. Uniontown won 14-7 and 35-7, Connellsville won the next three, and Uniontown got its last win, 7-0, in 1983. Connellsville won the next six games, giving Spanish an all-time 10-3 edge over the Raiders.

But, unfortunately, the historic series came to an end after the 1989 season because of the teams now being in different classifications, and the usual scheduling commitments, etc.

So, they didn’t play again until 2004, when the series resumed with Uniontown winning, 15-14, and Connellsville offset that last year, to pull within a game of evening the historic series.

In all the years they have played, only four Connellsville coaches hold a winning edge over Uniontown, Ed Duggan (5-0-2), Bela B. Smith (3-1), Art Ruff (7-5-1), and Dan Spanish (10-3).

Now it’s another season, but whatever, whenever, however, all you have to say is “Connellsville vs. Uniontown,” and that tells the whole story.

Jim Kriek is a Herald-Standard sports correspondent.