Category: High School Sports

It was Nick Lincoln’s first season at Northeast High School, so the football coach asked his athletic director last November if the Wooden Horse — the mahogany trophy carved nearly 80 years ago by a student — could be brought to the field on Thanksgiving morning for the annual game against Central.

The trophy, heavy and old, usually stays inside. But what good is the Wooden Horse if the players can’t hoist it after a win?

“Well, we had a little too much excitement,” Lincoln said.

The celebration ended, and the horse no longer had a tail.

“I said, ‘Dude, you’re going to get me fired,’” athletic director Phil Gormley said. “‘You’re going to be back coaching in Delaware, and I’m going to be bagging groceries at the Acme.’”

Northeast vs. Central is one of the longest-running rivalries in the country, but the Thanksgiving game is no longer the spectacle it once was. The halls of the schools don’t buzz in the weeks leading up to it, the parade down Cottman Avenue was canceled years ago, the bleachers aren’t filled, and the trophy is falling apart.

High school football in Philadelphia once meant as much to Thanksgiving as Santa Claus climbing into Gimbels. But traditions fade. Just 10 games are planned Thursday in Southeastern Pennsylvania, down from 28 in 2005. Thanksgiving games have faded for a variety of reasons: state playoffs, lack of competition, tepid attendance, and school closures.

But Northeast vs. Central — the schools say it’s the nation’s oldest rivalry among public schools — refuses to go away, even if the trophy is showing its age. The teams will meet again at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Northeast.

“I don’t think the game will fade,” Gormley said. “It’s not attended like it used to be, but I know it’s still important to our alumni. When I talk to anyone who comes back for any reason, it’s always a question that eventually comes up. I think the game, for the foreseeable future, is OK. It’s certainly something that could happen, but thankfully it’s not something that will happen anytime too soon.”

A historic game

The schools first played in 1892 and started playing annually in 1896. The rivalry has paused only twice: in 1918 during World War I and 2020 during the pandemic. They’ve played through snow, rain, and muddy fields.

The rivalry was real, as the schools were just three miles apart: Central was at Broad and Green, and Northeast was at 8th and Lehigh. The trophy came along in 1947, when Northeast’s Spurgeon Smith, using only a kitchen paring knife, carved into a block of mahogany donated by Smythe Mahogany Company.

The games often were epic and packed. More than 15,000 fans saw Central beat Northeast in 1929 at the Baker Bowl, they played a muddy scoreless tie in 1971, and they’ve braved a few snowstorms.

Philadelphia had a full slate of high school football on Thanksgiving morning, and Northeast-Central was the game for years.

“Everyone is brought on board at Central knowing that Thanksgiving is against Northeast,” said Jeff Thomas, Central’s associate archivist. “No matter how good or bad the team is that year, that is the most important game. Very similar to Army-Navy. Both teams could be 1-6, but when they play each other, it’s the most important game.”

In 1986, current Central coach Rich Drayton scored five touchdowns as the Lancers ran up the score in a 60-3 win in front of 7,000 fans. Afterward, Northeast coach Harvey Schumer refused to shake hands with Central coach Bob Cullman, and the two had to be separated at midfield. Three years earlier, Northeast didn’t let up in a 42-point Thanksgiving win. So Central was returning the favor.

The rivalry was deep.

“Wherever you go wearing your Lancers stuff, people ask for your class number,” Drayton said. “The next thing they say is, ‘Are we going to win on Thanksgiving?’ It’s a really big deal. Hopefully, the student body can notice before it’s too late how important it is.”

Hanging on

The parade of antique cars and convertibles started near the Roosevelt Mall, traveled west on Cottman Avenue, turned right on Glendale Avenue, then finished with a lap around the track that circled Northeast’s football field.

The stands were filled as more than 6,000 fans came each Thanksgiving to see which school’s trophy case would hold the Wooden Horse.

But the parade ended about 15 years ago when the school district replaced the cinder track with rubber. Students no longer decorate the stadium like they once did, and the game now attracts between 600 and 800 fans instead of thousands.

Both schools have strong alumni groups, and former students still come out. It’s a chance to wear a letterman’s jacket, see old classmates, and tell the same stories.

“We have breakfast in the gym for alumni who come back,” Gormley said. “These old guys would be in there razzing each other. ‘Well, you lost to Central. I never lost to them.’ You know how guys talk. It’s funny to hear.”

But interest among current students is tepid. Both schools draw students from across the city, and getting to Northeast Philly on a holiday morning can be a challenge.

The game has become one-sided — Northeast last lost in 2013 — and a football game doesn’t mean what it once did. The high school experience at Northeast and Central is not defined by the football teams the way it was in the 1960s or 1970s.

“We have career day, and me and the other old guys come in,” Thomas said. “At the end of each class, we’ll ask them who’s going to the game. One hand raised. I’m like, ‘OK. Well, let’s beat Northeast.’ They’re like, ‘Huh?’ It’s gone full cycle to almost no care at all.”

St. Joseph’s Prep and La Salle High School stopped their Thanksgiving game in 2006. North Catholic and Frankford played their final game in 2009 before North closed seven months later. Father Judge and Lincoln canceled their annual game last year, and Neumann Goretti and Southern won’t play this year.

Thanksgiving games drop off the schedule every year. As interest drops, could Northeast-Central be next?

“No,” Thomas said. “Well, maybe. After, say, everyone who graduated before 1985 is gone.”

High school football’s regular season in Pennsylvania started a week before Labor Day and ended a week before Halloween. Central did not make the playoffs, and Northeast lost in the first round, so neither team has played a game in nearly four weeks.

The PIAA playoff schedule has ended other rivalries as schools are either playing this weekend in the state tournament — like La Salle — or have been dormant for too long to play on Thanksgiving.

Northeast and Central found a way to keep their teams together as they wait for Thanksgiving. The coaches could have walked away weeks ago when the season ended — they instead practice a few times a week and schedule time in the weight room. They want to give their kids another game.

“I would love to be playing a PIAA playoff game and have to forfeit,” Lincoln said. “But it’s another chance for our guys to play football.”

Lincoln held his breath last Thanksgiving before he found the Wooden Horse’s tail on the field. His first win against Central wasn’t spoiled by a horse’s rear.

Gormley took the Wooden Horse to a nearby trophy shop, which repaired the tail and added last year’s final score — Northeast 37, Central 21 — to the base before it was tucked safely into the trophy case. The Wooden Horse, just like the game it represented, refused to go away.

“I’m going to try to bring it out again,” Lincoln said. “Let’s see if the AD allows me to.”

Not long after North Catholic’s building and campus were sold in 2011, an alumnus found pieces of sports equipment in a nearby dumpster. Ruby-red helmets, game-used footballs, and faded trophies were discarded carelessly, bound for a landfill, until this anonymous Samaritan fished them out.

To the seniors who were part of the school’s 1978 football team, these items were anything but garbage. They represented cherished memories, including the greatest of all: the 50th anniversary Thanksgiving Day game between the North Catholic Falcons and the Frankford Pioneers.

The “Norphans” — derived from “North Catholic” and “orphans” — are determined to keep the legacy of that game alive. For decades, it was a Northeast Philadelphia tradition. The neighboring high schools, one public and one Catholic, played from 1928 to 2009, not for a state championship or a league title, but for bragging rights.

The 50th anniversary pushed an already-intense rivalry to new heights. Eagles coach Dick Vermeil relocated his team’s practice to Franklin Field so the high schoolers could play at Veterans Stadium. Twenty-five thousand people showed up, including politicians and scores of local reporters.

The Falcons were heavy underdogs. They’d gone 5-6 that year and had lost their previous four Thanksgiving games to Frankford. The Pioneers were a bigger team, with a renowned coach in Al Angelo, who led them to a 7-1-1 record en route to a city title in 1978.

But North Catholic was gritty. And on Nov. 23, it pulled off an improbable win, beating its rival, 21-14, in the seniors’ final game together.

As the Falcons walked off the field, nose tackle John Kane imagined returning for the 100th anniversary in 2028. That became impossible in 2010, when North Catholic closed because of dwindling enrollment, rendering the Thanksgiving tradition a thing of past.

But the 1978 North Catholic seniors still have remnants of that game, recovered from the dumpster. They still have the film. They still have the memories, and they still have one another. And for that, they are grateful.

“It was the last game we’d ever play together, and we went out as a winner,” said offensive lineman Chuck Cianci. “It was our championship.”

‘Our Super Bowl’

North Catholic and Frankford occupied the same swath of Northeast Philly, about a mile and a half apart. The high schools’ proximity made the Thanksgiving game a hotly contested neighborhood event.

Kane compared it to the “Catholics and the Protestants in Northern Ireland.” Cianci said it was like “hell week.” Stories of past Thanksgiving games were passed down from generation to generation. Local children dreamed of playing in it — and quickly learned to embrace the rivalry.

Fullback Tim Keller, then a freshman, recalled taking the bus home after the Falcons lost to the Pioneers, 12-7, in 1974. As the North Catholic bus turned off Adams Avenue and onto Roosevelt Boulevard, the Frankford bus pulled up alongside it.

“The next thing you know, the windows came out, and the [North Catholic fans] were throwing the [bus] seats at them,” Keller said. “We lost the game and tore the bus apart.”

A police officer pulled the vehicle over. He allowed women and children to exit, but raucous students and adults spent their Thanksgiving at the 15th Police District on Levick Street.

“The cop gets on [the bus] and says, ‘Sit down!’” Keller said. “And we’re like, ‘We can’t. There are no seats anymore.’”

The officer took the North Catholic fans’ IDs but did not search their pockets. They smuggled a bottle of wine in and passed it from cell to cell.

Even when the games weren’t competitive, the rivalry remained intense. North Catholic was shut out every Thanksgiving from 1975 to 1977. Frankford put up a combined 65 points over that span.

But the Falcons entered the 1978 season with a singular focus. North Catholic coach Jeb Lynch started harping on the Thanksgiving game during the team’s summer workouts at Allentown College of St. Francis de Sales (now DeSales University).

They practiced from morning until night, turning their car headlights onto the field when it became too dark to see.

It ended up being a lackluster season. By Thanksgiving week, North Catholic had lost four consecutive games, including a 49-11 drubbing by Archbishop Ryan.

Nevertheless, the excitement around the 50th anniversary was palpable. It was all anyone in the neighborhood talked about. Teachers and students expressed their support — some in unorthodox ways.

North Catholic slotback Dan Galiczynski took an electronics class his senior year. He was struggling. A few days before the game, his teacher, a religious brother, offered him a lifeline.

“The brother said, ‘Dan, all you’ve got to do is beat Frankford,’” Galiczynski said. “‘And I’ll give you a 72.’”

(He chose 72 because it would allow Galiczynski to “barely pass” without exaggerating his electronics savvy.)

Before 1978, the Thanksgiving game had been played at Temple Stadium (which was demolished in 1997) or Franklin Field, but to commemorate the 50th, Angelo proposed that it be moved to Veterans Stadium. The city signed off on the idea and arranged for Frankford to use the Eagles’ locker room. North Catholic was to use the visitors’.

Just before 9:45 a.m. that Thursday, the Falcons walked out of the tunnel to thousands of screaming fans. They looked up and saw friends and family in the crowd.

Frank Correll, who played on special teams, got goose bumps.

“We all came from small neighborhoods,” he said. “So it was overwhelming. Now you understand why these guys all come out for big football games running around and jumping. There’s a lot of energy. And this was, for our school, our Super Bowl.”

High school heroics

It didn’t take long for things to get contentious. Frankford fans began chanting “We don’t want turkey, we want Falcon!” Some threw whiskey bottles at North’s captains during the coin toss.

As handles of hard liquor careened through the autumn air, tailback Harry Ulmer turned to Cianci.

“He was like, ‘What’s going on?’” Cianci said. “That wasn’t good. That wasn’t good.”

Despite the hostility, North Catholic got off to a promising start. Defensive back Ray Dovell recovered a fumble on Frankford’s first possession, setting the Falcons up at the Pioneers’ 21-yard line. Moments later, Ulmer rushed for a touchdown to give North Catholic an early lead.

Frankford responded with a 60-yard touchdown drive. But a two-point conversion attempt failed, leaving North Catholic with a 7-6 lead with 10 minutes, 23 seconds left in the second quarter.

Then North Catholic got another break. Defensive back Joe McCourt intercepted a pass from Frankford quarterback Chris Yurkow, and ran 18 yards to reach the Pioneers’ 30-yard line.

With less than two minutes to go in the half, North Catholic was desperate to add to its lead. But on the next three plays, the team didn’t get any closer to the end zone; it went backward, losing 6 yards.

Now, there was only a minute remaining. North Catholic sat on the 35-yard line, too close to punt and too far for a field goal. Lynch settled on a conservative play. He wanted to run the ball.

But Cianci had other ideas. The offensive lineman jogged into the huddle.

“Coach just wants you to run the ball,” he said. “We’re not doing that. What do you want to do?”

Wide receiver Tim Weidenmiller looked at quarterback Tony Daulerio. The team had practiced a tight end out-and-up play but hadn’t used it in the game yet.

“I can beat this corner right now,” Weidenmiller told him.

“All right,” Daulerio responded. “Let’s do that.”

On fourth-and-16, Daulerio hit Weidenmiller for a 23-yard pass that put them at Frankford’s 12-yard line. Ulmer then ran it in for his second touchdown of the day, giving North a 14-6 lead at the half.

In the third quarter, Frankford blocked a North Catholic field goal and recovered the ball at its own 33-yard line. The Pioneers drove 67 yards to tie the game, 14-14, with 4:04 left in the quarter.

Ulmer exited with a sprained ankle. Running back Dave Paul replaced him and ran 26 yards for a touchdown, but the play was called back for a clipping penalty. The ball was returned to the 29-yard line.

Galiczynski walked over to his coach.

“Listen,” he told Lynch. “I’m a senior. Dave Paul is a sophomore. I ran tailback my whole junior year. Put me in.”

“Go ahead,” Lynch responded.

Galiczynski scored two plays later. The Falcons made the extra point, giving them a 21-14 lead with 10:22 left.

The Pioneers had ample time to score, but North held the line. Defensive back Paul Golden finished the game by intercepting Yurkow’s Hail Mary pass with just over a minute remaining. The clock ran out. The Falcons crowd roared.

A few players lifted Lynch on their shoulders as they triumphantly marched off the field.

“We got to this game, in this special place, and we won it,” Cianci said. “And to look around and see the fans, and how much joy they had … it was unbelievable. We were like folk heroes.”

A new tradition

After graduating, the seniors from the 1978 North Catholic team went their separate ways. Some moved out of the city, some moved out of the state. But the group stayed in touch while supporting each other from afar.

In the early 1980s, Cianci was accepted into the police academy. A few months later, he was told classes for that semester had been canceled. He had to find a new job until the academy opened up, and happened to run into Galiczynski at a local softball game in Philadelphia.

Cianci explained his predicament.

“Danny said, ‘You can work with me in construction,’” Cianci said. “And he put me to work until the academy called me back. That’s the kind of friendship we have.”

In 2018, Tommy Campbell, a senior defensive tackle on the 1978 team, fell ill. He was diagnosed with amyloidosis and a rare blood disease. His heart and liver were failing him. The North Catholic graduate spent six months on life support in the intensive care unit.

Campbell worked as a mechanic for an airline at Dulles International Airport in suburban Washington. The airline’s insurance company told him it wasn’t going to cover a heart and liver transplant because of the blood disease.

His wife, Karen, began a letter-writing campaign to persuade the insurance company to pay for the operations. Multiple members of the 1978 North Catholic team joined in.

Linebacker Pat Jordan, a 1978 senior captain, took it a step further. He was a longtime plumber with Local 690. The union used the same insurance as Campbell, so Jordan decided to apply some pressure.

“He went to the international, and said, ‘Listen, we need to do something. This is one of my best friends,’” Cianci said. “‘We’re going to call the insurance company. We’re going to threaten to pull our insurance for all union members if they don’t get this approved.’”

The company reversed its decision and covered Campbell’s surgery. To this day, he believes his teammates saved his life.

“These were guys I hadn’t seen in 30-35 years, coming to the plate,” Campbell said. “Everybody should be lucky enough to feel that.”

Jordan died unexpectedly on Feb. 3. He was 63. The 1978 seniors toasted to him during a reunion last summer in North Wildwood.

This is their annual tradition now. There are no more North Catholic-Frankford games to go to. The local Thanksgiving games that remain just don’t feel the same.

So every July, the Norphans will meet at the beach before they head to Keenan’s Irish Pub. They’ll celebrate Jordan, linebacker Frank Wodjak, guard Ken McGuckin, and other fallen teammates.

They’ll wear black-and-red polo shirts with uniform numbers stitched into their sleeves and relive a day that still feels like dream.

“And we’ll toast,” Galiczynski said, “until the last of us is standing.”

All 20 players on the Belmont Charter football team were back on a school bus Tuesday, this time for practice at the South Philadelphia Super Site. It was a sweet upgrade from its usual practice field, best described as an open space in Fairmount Park.

With a male enrollment of 127, Belmont Charter is the smallest Public League school with a football team. Belmont Charter, now located in the former John W. Hallahan Catholic Girls High School near Logan Square, has no home stadium and has had varsity football only since 2021.

“With limited resources, we do make the best out of it,” said Cintella Spotwood, the school’s athletic director.

Belmont Charter still can do something that no other Public League can match this season: win a PIAA state football championship. The Tigers (9-1) play Lackawanna Trail (12-1), from near Scranton, in the Class 1A quarterfinal Friday night at Northern Lehigh High School, about a half-hour’s drive north of Allentown.

Since the PIAA playoffs began in 1988, no team from Philadelphia or the suburbs has won a state title in Class 1A, the smallest of six enrollment classifications. Imhotep Charter, with a Class 3A title in 2015 and a Class 5A title in 2023, is the only Public League school with a state title.

Plus, Belmont Charter is one of only 10 teams from the city or suburbs among 48 teams still alive for six state championships. The others: La Salle College (10-1), Pennridge (12-1), and North Penn (11-2) in 6A; Roman Catholic (9-3), Springfield (Delco) (13-0), and Chester (13-0) in 5A; Cardinal O’Hara (9-4) in 4A; Neumann Goretti (8-4) in 3A, and Lansdale Catholic (11-2) in 2A. Pennridge and North Penn play each other Friday, as do Springfield and Chester.

This will be only the third state playoff game in Belmont Charter history, compared with the 24th for Lackawanna Trail, which lost in the state championship game in 2019. And yet a lack of players, facilities, and postseason experience does not appear to bother the Tigers.

“They’re just like us,” Kabir Knight, a junior wide receiver and defensive back, said of Lackawanna Trail. “They’re just in our way.”

Belmont Charter, a four-year college-preparatory and career-readiness high school and part of the Belmont Charter Network, was founded in 2017 with a class of 75 freshmen. Before moving into the Hallahan facilities this year, the school was located on Belmont Avenue in West Philadelphia.

Belmont Charter is coming off its first victory in the state playoffs — a 36-20 triumph last Saturday over host York Catholic, where the Tigers rolled to a 24-7 lead in the first nine minutes. Freshman quarterback Nafis Watkins passed for 253 yards and three touchdowns.

“That’s how we should have been playing all season,” said Mason Billingsley-Walker, a 6-foot-4 and 310-pound senior tackle on both offense and defense.

The victory softened a tough 28-22 loss last year to Delone Catholic that had motivated the 14 returning players to launch training in January for the 2025 season. The team’s only loss this season was by six points last month to Central, which has a student body six times larger.

“Gotta go through the downs, but there have been more ups than downs lately,” said Terrell Brent, the Tigers’ effervescent third-year head coach.

He said of the long bus ride home from York: “Instead of going home crying, there were happy tears — and smiling.”

Brent, 26, is a health and physical-education teacher at the school. He joined head coach Ed McCabe’s staff at Belmont when Brent was still a student at East Stroudsburg University, during COVID-19, which delayed and shortened the Tigers’ junior varsity schedule.

The Tigers have made progress each season. They lost a 2023 play-in playoff game to Steelton-Highspire, the eventual state champion, but they finished 5-6 last year, beating District 1 champ Morrisville in a play-in game before losing to Delone Catholic. The Tigers beat Morrisville again this year to earn the playoff game against York Catholic.

“Our coaches motivate us, but we keep each other accountable,” said Shyneem Newsuan, a sophomore linebacker and running back. “We don’t overlook anyone. We just play hard-working football.”

Billingsley-Walker said the lack of a practice field near the school — they take a bus to the athletic fields across the Avenue of the Republic from the Please Touch Museum, not far from Belmont’s former location — can take away valuable practice time.

But still: “I like us in the long run,” Billingsley-Walker said.

Because Belmont Charter faces schools its size in the playoffs, the Tigers won’t be overwhelmed by teams with substantially larger rosters. York Catholic had 28 players on its roster, according to MaxPreps, and Lackawanna Trail has only 30.

(Roxborough High, another Public League team, played a regular-season game last month against Olney with only 17 players in uniform.)

Still, the four-weekend grind through the state football playoffs is much more punishing and treacherous for Class 1A teams than larger schools.

At a school like Belmont Charter, ranked 202nd in the state (Lackawanna Trail is 97th), there is no such thing as a depth chart, because everyone is needed to play both ways. Injuries can’t be avoided, but Brent has kept his team healthy by paying attention to training details.

“We always try to take care of the kids,” he said. “For the most part, they’re trying to get their bodies right. I believe in the staff and the abilities of the coaches to put kids in the best position possible.”

The Tigers find a way to manage. Their game against Morrisville was supposed to be held in Philly, but Spotwood said she could not find an available field in the city, so the game was played at Morrisville. The Tigers won, 19-0.

They will practice at the South Philadelphia Super Site for as long as they are playing in the playoffs. It has lights, and the open space they normally use for practice is ringed by trees. Their bus to South Philly was late, and when they got to the field, a soccer goal was on it.

The goal, fortunately for Belmont Charter, was on wheels, so two players were able to easily push it aside. But Brent already had a Plan B: If they could not move the goal, they would just use half the field — it is not as if the team is overflowing with players.

“To the outside world, we would be underdogs,” Brent said. “But we’re confident in the coaching staff and the kids to go 1-0 every week.”

The opening round of the PIAA state football playoffs arrived with a number of achievements and several firsts for area programs. This weekend promises more in the state quarterfinals.

Three defending state champions remain alive: Class 1A Bishop Guilfoyle of Blair County (District 6), Class 3A Northwestern Lehigh of Lehigh County (District 11), and Class 5A Bishop McDevitt of Dauphin County (District 3). Of the 48 teams that have reached the state quarterfinal round, 10 teams remain alive from District 12 and District 1.

In District 12, there is a team alive at each level (Belmont Charter-1A, Lansdale Catholic-2A, Neumann-Goretti-3A, Cardinal O’Hara-4A, Roman Catholic-5A, and La Salle-6A), with two major games coming this Friday in the District 1 Class 6A championship (Pennridge vs. North Penn) and Class 5A championship (Chester vs. Springfield).

Here’s a breakdown of the local teams competing in the state quarterfinals:

PIAA Class 6A

• La Salle (10-1) vs. District 11 champion Easton (13-0) at Liberty High on Friday (7 p.m.).

This is the deepest La Salle has gone in the state playoffs since reaching the quarterfinals in 2015, when the Explorers lost to Parkland in the final year of the Class 4A system. The Explorers entered this season with the goal of winning the program’s first state championship since 2009.

After leading 24-0, La Salle scrambled to stave off a furious rally by Philadelphia Public League champion Imhotep Charter on Saturday and did it by leaning on its running game to win, 31-16.

“Easton is a very good football team, that is a senior-heavy team whose quarterback [Cole Ordway] has rushed for over 2,000 yards this year,” La Salle coach Brett Gordon said. “Easton historically likes to establish its running game, and that will be an important piece of the game to stop that.”

• North Penn (11-2) at Pennridge (12-1) in District 1 Class 6A championship on Friday (7 p.m.)

This is a rematch of Pennridge’s 34-10 regular-season victory over traditional Southeastern Pennsylvania powerhouse North Penn, the first time the Rams beat North Penn since Oct. 19, 2012. Pennridge has never won a District 1 championship in football. Until this season, the Rams had not won a district playoff game during a full season since 2017. Pennridge has won more games this season (12) than its previous three years combined (2-8 in 2022, 3-7 in 2023, and 4-7 in 2024). The Rams will lean on 6-foot-3, 215-pound four-year starting quarterback Noah Keating, and running backs Ryan Rowe, a Princeton pledge, and William Dougherty.

“It’s always really hard to beat a good team twice, and they have changed a lot since they played us,” Keating said. “They have changed up personnel on both sides. We have changed some things, too. I think we are pretty confident going into this. We have been tested. We beat three really good defenses to get here in Plymouth-Whitemarsh, Downingtown East, and Coatesville.”

North Penn is riding an eight-game winning streak since the Pennridge loss. The Knights have not won a District 1 Class 6A championship since 2016, the first year that PIAA instituted the Class 6A classification system. The Pennridge-North Penn winner will face the La Salle-Easton winner in the state semifinals next weekend.

PIAA Class 5A

• Roman Catholic (9-3) vs. District 6 champion Hollidaysburg (13-0) at Mechanicsburg’s Memorial Park on Friday (7 p.m.).

This is a rematch of last year’s state quarterfinals, won by Roman, 48-14. Over their last three games, the Cahillites have averaged 53.3 points, having outscored their opponents by 160-28. Akron-bound senior quarterback Semaj Beals is the only Philadelphia-area quarterback to throw for more than 11,000 yards in his career, and he has two Division I threats in Ash Roberts and Eyan Stead Jr., both committed to Temple.

Roman coach Rick Prete may have the best team in the state. The Cahillites beat La Salle during the regular season and suffered one-point regular-season losses to St. Joseph’s Prep and Providence Day (N.C.). Hollidaysburg is averaging 50 points in its last three games. But the Golden Tigers have not faced a team as fast as Roman.

“Hollidaysburg is good, and faster than they were last year,” Prete said. “I feel good how we are playing right now, and we exposed ourselves early to learn what are flaws were. I feel we are battle-tested. Playing in the Catholic League and our nonleague schedule, and I don’t think we face anyone like the teams we saw. Styles make fights, and while we are battle-tested, we still have work to do. Springfield is really good, and Chester is really good and very well-coached. We are playing our best at the right time, but they are kids and we are trying to make sure we do not skip over any steps.”

• Chester (13-0) at Springfield (Delco) (13-0) in District 1 Class 5A championship on Friday (7 p.m.).

This is the game of the weekend. Springfield, the No. 1 seed, is expecting more than 6,000 fans. It is a classic clash of the only two undefeated teams in the area, and they have been circling each other all season. Neither team has ever won a District 1 championship in football. Springfield has been to the district final four previous times (2014, 2016, 2017, and 2024).

Chester, the No. 2 seed, has reached the final once, losing to Strath Haven in 2023. Chester is having a historic season, winning the most games in a season. This is the longest the Clippers have ever gone undefeated. The Clippers have won their last two district playoff games without their best player, Daron Harris, who was serving a two-game suspension after being ejected in the Marple Newtown opening-round playoff game. Harris will be eligible to play, and he will be joined by 6-foot, 170-pound junior receiver Sekai Brown-Murray, who missed five games with a pulled hamstring. Jalen Harris, Daron’s twin and the Clippers’ quarterback, has filled in nicely as a defensive back with five interceptions this season. Senior running back and linebacker Jerrell Palmer anchors the middle while 6-8, 330-pound tackle Semaj Henry, who’s committed to Syracuse, blocks everything else out.

“Springfield is a good football team, they are well coached, but we like where we are as a team right now,” Clippers coach Dennis Shaw said. “We are playing our best at the right time. We have seen everything teams can do to us with the power run.”

Springfield is 13-0 for the first time since 2017, when the Cougars lost to Unionville in the district final. Cougars coach Chris Britton has been successful behind his offensive line comprised of juniors Shane Kilroy (tight end), Zion Culbreth (left guard), Jaxon DeConti (center), and Alex McGinnis (right guard), along with seniors Dom Stewart (left tackle) and Michael Francks (right tackle). It is a young team made up of primarily sophomores and juniors.

“We are playing selfless football, and we focus on details,” Britton said. “We have very coachable kids. We hit adversity various times of the season and these guys didn’t get flustered. Chester is well coached; they do a good job of mixing things up. They throw well, they run well. They check a lot of boxes. We need to keep them off the field. If we give up explosive plays, we are going to have problems.”

PIAA Class 4A

• Cardinal O’Hara (9-4) vs. District 2 champion North Pocono (13-0) at Whitehall on Friday (7 p.m.).

The Lions get to play at Saquon Barkley’s alma mater after beating West Philadelphia, 34-6, in the District 12 championship on Saturday for O’Hara’s first district championship and first state playoff victory. Senior tailback Amahj Gowans has been exceptional, carrying the offensive load. O’Hara’s defense will rely on Hakim Allah, Sammy Dantonka, and Jalen Patterson, who were game wreckers against West Philly, combining for seven tackles for losses of 32 yards.

PIAA Class 3A

• Neumann Goretti (8-4) vs. District 3 champion Trinity High School (10-3) at Exeter Township High on Friday (7 p.m.).

Neumann Goretti coach Albie Crosby continues to produce winners. He guided Imhotep Charter to the PIAA Class 3A state championship in 2015, enabling the Panthers to become the first Philadelphia Public League team to win a state championship. This year, he lost his starting quarterback, sophomore Shane “King” Salley, to injury in the season opener. He has since found 6-1, 170-pound freshman quarterback Marquis Coleman, who has produced a 6-1 record as a starter.

“We are playing hard and gritty — there is nothing pretty about our wins,” Crosby said. “We look like a South Philly boxer or point guard. We believe in Marquis. He’s very poised. Nothing bothers him. We need to go 3-0.”

PIAA Class 2A

• Lansdale Catholic (11-2) vs. District 11 champion Williams Valley (12-1) at Lehighton High on Friday (7 p.m.).

This is Crusaders coach Dom D’Addona’s seventh season at the helm and this is the deepest Lansdale Catholic has gone in the PIAA state playoffs, since the late Hall of Fame coach Jim Algeo led the Crusaders to the 2004 PIAA Class 2A championship.

The Crusaders’ 43-7 victory over District 2 champion Lakeland last weekend was their first state playoff victory in 21 years. The Crusaders offense revolves around two-year senior quarterback Yeboa Cobbold. Cobbold threw for two touchdowns and scored one rushing in Lansdale Catholic’s opening-round romp over Lakeland.

PIAA Class 1A

• Belmont Charter (9-1) vs. District 2 champion Lackawanna Trail (12-1) at Northern Lehigh High on Friday (7 p.m.).

This is Belmont’s fifth season as a program, and the Tigers have reached the PIAA quarterfinals for the first time. Freshman quarterback Nafis Watkins threw three touchdown passes and rushed for another score in Belmont’s 36-20 victory over York Catholic. Lackawanna Trail’s Isaac Ryon is a game-wrecking threat. He rushed for 150 yards and two touchdowns in the Lions’ state playoff-opening 31-20 win over District 4 champion Line Mountain.

The drought is over for Abington High School.

After 41 years, the school will add its third state championship banner to the gymnasium rafters after the boys’ soccer team defeated West Chester Henderson, 3-1, in the PIAA Class 4A championship on Friday, marking the program’s first state crown.

“It feels amazing,” senior captain Sean Westmoreland said. “I don’t think I’ve fully processed it yet, but it’s amazing. I feel like the community has been with us and brought us together.”

Abington finished its season 22-2-3, with those two losses coming against Haverford High in the season opener and District 1 final.

“They were disappointed that Haverford had beaten them in the district final, 3-1,” longtime Abington coach Randy Garber said. “It left a bad taste in their mouth, and the only thing that could erase that disappointment was running for a state title and winning that, and that’s where their focus was.

“When it came to the [state] final, I don’t think they wanted to be denied. … They came out on fire.”

For Garber, who graduated from Abington in 1971 and has been the head coach for 32 years, winning a state crown was the cherry on top in his career, and he plans to step down.

“People reached out by text, by phone that I haven’t [heard from] in a while,” said Garber, who played professionally for the North American Soccer League and Major Indoor Soccer League. “I have more than 100 texts from former players just reaching out saying how great it was, a long time coming — it’s your last season as head coach, and this happens.

“The moment was extremely special. I’ve had good teams in the past that did extremely well but couldn’t get over that hump because of whatever reason. … This year with this team, everything fell into place. One thing got better than the next.”

Abington had a 3-0 lead at halftime, putting it in a solid position to claim the title. No team scored four goals in a game against the Ghosts this season.

“I mentioned this in the huddle,” Westmoreland said. “There’s 40 minutes left in the season no matter what. Forty minutes left in some guys’ soccer careers, so we just wanted to have a lasting impact and leave everything out on the field. I think that was the mindset coming out of halftime. Just put the game away.”

Despite school being in session, plenty of students made the trip to Manchester, York County, in support of their team. Back home, the Abington community awaited the newly crowned state champions’ return to celebrate with a parade.

“It’s just great for the community, the school,” Garber said. “They’re all rallying around the soccer team because it’s the first state championship since 1981. … The senior high filled with students watching [the game] live while we were playing [Friday morning]. The elementary schools were watching it in Roslyn Elementary in the gymnasium, and the parade on the way home … that took us all [though] Glenside and all through the elementary schools, and the students out on the sidewalk just waving. It was a treat. It was a real treat.

“I don’t know that any of the students and surely the coaches knew it was going to be celebrated in that fashion. We didn’t expect the fire trucks. We might have expected a police car [escort], but we did not realize how they got the community out. … There were people just walking out of the house and clapping. … It was an all day and night [celebration] — the school did a really nice job getting everyone to know that we won.”

The legacy Garber leaves behind is one of a kind, and the impact he made goes beyond winning a state crown.

“Seeing the way he interacts with our students, our athletes, not just on the field, but he’s a health and [physical education] teacher,” Abington athletic director Charles Grasty said. “He does an excellent job with the students here. … He knew he had a good team going into the year, and they worked hard and trusted him and listened to him.”

Roman Catholic coach Rick Prete said it best: Every team in the state playoffs is good, and this is what each program has prepared all year for. What they’re playing for is different.

For the Cahillites, it’s getting back to the state final after making their first appearance in school history last season, when Roman Catholic fell in overtime to Harrisburg’s Bishop McDevitt for the PIAA Class 5A crown at Cumberland Valley High School.

The heartbreaker has been Roman Catholic’s fuel all season, and this time Prete believes his team is “in a good place” to reach the final.

The Cahillites (8-3) handed La Salle College High its first loss of the season, nearly beat St. Joseph’s Prep (in a 40-39 double overtime loss), and are riding a four-game winning streak entering a matchup against Whitehall of District 11 in the first round of the PIAA playoffs on Friday night.

“We’re the only team that can get in our own way,” said Prete, who has been at the helm since 2019. “We have to stay focused and get better every day. … From the beginning of the year to now, it’s been about staying out of our way and understanding that if we play our best, we’re the best team in Pennsylvania.”

Roman Catholic is led by Akron-bound quarterback Semaj Beals, who has passed for 2,456 yards this season. His main targets have been Ashdan Roberts (12 touchdowns) and Eyan Stead Jr. (eight), who both recently committed to Temple.

Prete also credited center/guard Dom Ramos and defensive end Julian Enoch as the team’s vocal leaders. The two seniors “lead by example and try to hold guys accountable,” Prete said.

“We tell them to be where their feet are,” he said. “We’re not focused on coming off of four wins. We’re coming off of a loss in the state title game. We’re coming off a loss in essentially the PCL championship game. … Roman has been coming back from a loss. That’s been our mindset.”

Pennridge eyes history

Pennridge High has never won a district or state championship. The Rams (11-1) are having their best season under third-year coach Kyle Beller after going 3-7 in 2023 and 4-7 in 2024. They opened the season on a seven-game winning streak, with victories against conference foes North Penn and Neshaminy.

District 1 Class 6A includes top competition. Pennridge, which earned a Suburban One League title outright and was seeded No. 1 in districts, barely got past No. 16 Plymouth-Whitemarsh to open the district playoffs, 22-21.

“Plymouth-Whitemarsh is a very good program,” Beller said. “We’re talking about the 16th seed and their record is 7-3 — that’s a pretty darn good football team. When you’re looking at that top to bottom there, we knew we had our work cut out for us.

“We have three of the four teams left in District 1 right now, playing for the district championship. That’s how good the conference is [Suburban One National]. It’s the best conference in this side of the state and one of the best in the state.”

Pennridge has found ways to win — against schools it hasn’t beaten in some time. Beller has been building the program for this moment. Pennridge is one win away from a district final appearance, but first must take down Coatesville in the District 1 semifinal on Friday night.

“It’s about consistency,” Beller said. “We’ve had that for three years.”

Following in his footsteps

Cardinal O’Hara coach Michael Ewing reminded his team to stay level-headed entering its matchup with Bonner Prendergast in the Class 4A Catholic League final last Saturday.

“They’re our school’s biggest rival,” said Ewing, in his fourth season at the helm. “Any time we play them in any sport, both schools’ student sections, the alumni, everybody shows out. It’s a great atmosphere.”

The Lions (8-4) silenced the defending 4A state champions, 24-3, marking the first time that O’Hara has beaten Bonner in nine years. O’Hara will face West Philadelphia at the Northeast Supersite on Saturday in the District 12 championship with the chance — at least to Ewing’s knowledge — to win the program’s first district title.

There’s also a unique opportunity for Ewing, who is the grandson of Bob Ewing, the winningest coach at O’Hara and a hall of famer. Michael recalled when his late grandfather won a city title at Veterans Stadium in 1979.

Saturday is his chance to earn the team a city title, following in his grandfather’s footsteps, and he hopes “to do something that he was never able to do” in the state playoffs — win the school’s first PIAA crown.

“My dad coached on his staff as well,” Michael Ewing said. “I grew up at O’Hara — for the first nine years of my life I was on the sidelines, in the locker room, and the coaches’ rooms. They didn’t do the daycare thing back then. …

“The school has a special place in my heart. That’s why I came back to it. That’s why I wanted to try and bring them back to where they once were.”

Here’s a look at the full schedule of the local teams competing in the first round of the PIAA playoffs:

PIAA Class 1A

• Belmont Charter at York Catholic, York County, on Saturday (1 p.m.).

PIAA Class 2A

• Lansdale Catholic vs. Lakeland, Lackawanna County, at Germantown Supersite on Saturday (1 p.m.).

PIAA Class 3A

• Neumann Goretti will play in the quarterfinals next weekend against the winner of Berks Catholic and Trinity High School. Time and location to be determined.

PIAA Class 4A

• North Pocono, Lackawanna County, at Bishop Shanahan on Friday (7 p.m.).
• Cardinal O’Hara vs. West Philadelphia at the Northeast Supersite on Saturday (11 a.m.) for the District 12 title.

PIAA Class 5A

• Roman Catholic at Whitehall on Friday (7 p.m.).
• Strath Haven at Springfield (Delco) on Friday (7 p.m.).
• West Chester Rustin at Chester on Saturday (1 p.m.).

PIAA Class 6A

• La Salle vs. Imhotep at Northeast High on Saturday (3 p.m.) in the District 12 championship.
• Coatesville at Pennridge on Friday (7 p.m.).
• Neshaminy at North Penn on Friday (7 p.m.).

The entrance to Lincoln High School’s football field was locked last Saturday morning for the Railsplitters’ regular-season finale against defending Philadelphia Public League champion Imhotep Charter.

Spectators had to be preapproved for entrance into the gates, then checked by a Philadelphia police officer on a list. There were three camera crews there, too, taking sporadic shots of the field and video of the 50 or so parents scattered in the concrete stands.

Lincoln hasn’t played a game since Oct. 4, after the team received a three-game suspension — which would have ended its season — following a brawl that broke out after its game against Northeast High School. However, last week, the School District of Philadelphia overturned Lincoln’s suspension after video evidence revealed players, parents, and coaches from both schools were involved in an altercation as Lincoln’s team attempted to leave the Northeast Supersite.

The Railsplitters forfeited two games, including their 39-8 victory over Northeast, before the suspension was amended. But none of that mattered against Imhotep. Lincoln just wanted another chance to play.

In a 26-25 thriller, the Railsplitters snapped the powerhouse Panthers’ 35-game league winning streak and became the first Public League team to beat Imhotep in six years.

If the Railsplitters (5-4) had lost, their season was over. Lincoln persevered, despite having 12 players suspended due to the altercation, and will advance to the Public League quarterfinal round of the playoffs. They will play Central at 11 a.m. on Saturday at the Germantown Supersite.

Another chance

As the game was winding down on Oct. 4, Lincoln coach Hakeem Cooper and Northeast coach Nick Lincoln agreed to skip the traditional postgame handshake down the middle of the field, Cooper said, due to the in-game chatter that was stirring between the teams.

Instead, Northeast went back to its locker rooms, located up a ramp and behind the stadium field house. Cooper gathered his team in the far end zone to address the group for 15 minutes after the game. Cooper said he sent assistant coach Joe DiGrazio to get the Lincoln team buses over to the visitor’s side of the field.

DiGrazio then went up the steps on the Northeast home side, where a verbal altercation ensued, Cooper said.

DiGrazio, who is shown on a video from the incident, had his back to the steps and extended his arms trying to hold back Lincoln’s players from going up the steps. The video also showed shoving and jostling before the altercation was settled.

Northeast interim principal Peggy DeNaples, Northeast athletic director Phil Gormley, and Vikings coach Nick Lincoln could not comment about the matter.

The school district wrote in a statement: “After an additional review of video footage, statements from coaches, parents and OSS (Office of School Safety) officers on-site and reports from PPD (Philadelphia Police Department), the PPL (Philadelphia Public League)’s investigation concluded that student-athletes and coaches from the Abraham Lincoln high school football team engaged in unsportsmanlike conduct after the conclusion of the game … . Individuals who were not directly involved in the altercation from Lincoln were eligible to return to play for their final regular season game on Oct. 18.”

On Oct. 8, Lincoln principal Jack Nelson was informed by the district that the Railsplitters’ season would be canceled. Cooper gathered his team in a study hall to tell them the news, which was greeted with a swell of emotion.

It also happened to be on Cooper’s 34th birthday.

“Yep, it was not a good birthday present, because it was highly emotional,” said Cooper, who is in his fifth season as the Railsplitters’ head coach and guided Lincoln to a 2023 PPL Class 6A championship, its first league title since 1979. “It’s probably one of the hardest things I ever had to do as a coach. I got emotional, seeing all my boys breaking down after we lost a championship that we should have won [last November to Imhotep on a blocked punt in the Public League championship].

“It’s been a roller coaster these last two weeks. I was holding out hope that we would be able to salvage the season. I just wanted the kids to have one more chance. We appealed the suspension when more video came out, and the school district gave us our season back.”

‘Never gave up hope’

A week later, in the same room that Lincoln thought its season was over, Cooper told his 47 players to grab their helmets and shoulder pads and get ready for practice. They had a 90- minute session last Wednesday and a two-hour practice on Thursday, before finishing the week with a Friday walk-through.

It was not an ideal way to prepare for a team like Imhotep, which beat Lincoln 35-6 last year during the regular season. The Panthers also squeezed by the Railsplitters, 28-26, for the Public League Class 6A title on a blocked punt with less than a minute left in regulation and a touchdown by Jabree Wallace-Coleman (who’s now at Penn State) on the final play of the game.

Last Saturday, Lincoln’s 6-foot-1, 193-pound senior quarterback KJ Moore was brilliant. He extended plays. He found sophomore Nazir Holley in the corner of the end zone for a 20-19 lead with 1:48 to play.

It looked like the Railsplitters would seal the win when defensive end Koi Muse took an interception 35 yards and added a 26-19 lead. But Imhotep kept coming.

On the ensuing kickoff, Imhotep scored a touchdown on a fumbled return and had Cooper feeling cursed by the football gods that another odd special team’s breakdown would end Lincoln’s season. But the Railsplitters held, as Imhotep’s two-point conversion was stopped.

Cooper’s lower lip quivered after the game. The whole experience seems to have galvanized the Railsplitters. The suspension made a tight team a tighter team.

“I never gave up hope that we would play again, and I never felt so happy going to practice last Wednesday,” Moore said. “I was angry. We had to play behind a locked gate. Me, Jamir Duncan, and Nymir Marable, the team captains, called a players-only meeting the day after we were told our season was over. We were determined to get our season back. … On the outside, we had a lot of ignorance coming at us.

“We’re going to be tough to beat. We are getting our guys back, and Alvin Yates is eligible to play. I saw the cameras there. I also saw that they left. They didn’t stick around. They covered their story. They missed the story: us beating a team no one thought we could beat. This adversity has made us closer. … I learned how this coaching staff cares about us. They are always there for us. It’s why we push, because our coaches push.”

Marable, a senior receiver who is getting attention from West Chester, Delaware State, Gettysburg, and West Virginia State, added: “We had to prove everyone wrong. We were supposed to lose 50-0. I think we all got a gift in this — we had something taken away and then given back. We learned not to take anything for granted. Everyone was ready to play. No one was going to stop us.”

When Cooper showed up at Lincoln at 8 a.m. Saturday, he was greeted by 20 of his players waiting in front of the locker room door.

Yates, a 6-5, 260-pound defensive lineman and cousin of former St. Joe’s Prep star Samaj Jones and Imhotep’s Zahir Mathis, had to wait 21 days before his eligibility kicked in after transferring into Lincoln from Imhotep.

“I can’t wait to play after being on the sideline,” said Yates, who is getting attention from Syracuse, Temple, Monmouth, and Penn State. “We have some dogs on this team. The mindset of this team is to win everything, especially with everything we have been through.”

If Lincoln and Northeast win this weekend, the two teams will advance to the Public League semifinals, which will be played at the South Philadelphia Supersite on Nov. 1 at 11 a.m. According to sources from Lincoln and Northeast, there will likely be no fans permitted to attend.

“I won’t forget my son coming home [on Oct. 8] crying like he lost an aunt and I knew something was not right,” said Kareem Moore Sr., KJ Moore’s father. “I was there when the fight broke out. The animosity was high between the two teams. These were adults acting poorly. It’s too bad this was taken out on these kids. It will feel real good when Lincoln wins the Public League title. These kids are filled with a lot of energy. They can do it.”