september/octobei 2000 - lehigh valley style * 70

Valley Turf Skirmish

Muhlenberg's John Sules advances against Moravian (1974).

Top 10 rivals brace forannual grid grudge

UY SHAWN DIUJKYnnitMvit.v and tradition are two

, imiivr l : ; ,ny ul 1 .11 (1 ln:;l. liioil.liiii

between Moravian—the school on

mind, the Leopards and Engineers(now the Mountain Hawks) took thefield amid wind chill factors of 20-below zero. In what is believed to bethe coldest game in the rivalry's histo-ry, Lehigh came away with the 17-10win when quarterback MarkMcGowan dove in from the one-yardline with 5:08 left on the clock.

McGowan had struggled mightilyearlier in the 1987 season. Unfortu-nately, as is often the case, the quar-terback was blamed for the strugglesof the entire offense. Coming into theLafayette game, the Brown and Whitehad failed to score in the second halfin four straight games and McGowan,a walk-on player from tiny KemberlyAcademy in New Jersey, was takingthe heat.

According to Tony Semler, a grad-uate assistant coach for Lehigh,"McGowan sort of came out ofnowhere. He was third-string on thejunior varsity and just kept workingand working. All of sudden he was thestarter. What I remember about Markis his dedication. He was the kind ofkid you rooted for."

When McGowan was named

/uiuuulc PiuyoiLafayette-Lehigh game and enjoyed a

emerged in the 1960s.Lehigh was still Muhlenberg's

biggest game of the year in 1946. Thatyear the Mules went 9-1 and madetheir first and only appearance in abowl game. They beat St. Bonaven-ture 26-25 in the Tobacco Bowl atLexington, Kentucky. The win gaveMuhlenberg the mythical small-col-lege national championship.

Many local players starred on thatteam, which defeated Moravian 47-0on November 16th. George Bibighausof Palmerton was Muhlenberg's Ail-American end. Coached by the leg-endary Ben Schwartzwalder,Muhlenberg had only 32 players onthe roster. Most players played bothoffense and defense. "I don't know if Icould play football the way they play ittoday," Bibighaus says, laughing. "Inmy mind, you either played both waysor didn't play at all."

Bibighaus actually began hisMuhlenberg career in 1940. With theadvent of WWII, he enlisted in theNavy and served in the Pacific from1942-1946. One of his commandingofficers was legendary Chicago Bearsfootball coach George Halas. When

the 6'2", 235-pound Bibighaus (big forviir. timo\ tn onrnll at Wiqnonsin so he

retiring, he taught at Lehighton HighSchool for 17 years and was the prin-cipal for 25 years.

"I was really lucky," he says."Every decision I made turned outright."

Easton ReeBoversv.Phillipsburfftateliners

FIRST GAMJk94SERIES RECORD. I .ision leads 51-37-5

THIS YEAR: Thanksgiving Day $ Lafayette's Fisher Field

The Easton-Phillipsburg game isthe longest-running of all high schoolfootball rivalries in the Lehigh Valley,but not by much. Easton played Allen-town High School (which laterbecame Allen High) 93 times between1896-1997.

Easton and P'Burg began playingon Thanksgiving Day 1916 and theycontinue that practice today. Two ofthe most legendary games in theseries occurred in consecutive years.In 1954, Phillipsburg came into thegame unbeaten and untied. Eastonwas a .500 team. The Red Rovers'record was deceiving, according tothe quarterback of the team, Jim But-

icr. vvu piuyOQ i

ule that year," he recalls. "We thoughtthat if we could get a lead or keep it

L ongevity and tradition are twovery different things. Age doesnot guarantee historical rele-

vance. Fenway Park is a classic base-ball park not simply because it is old.Babe Ruth and Ted Williams playedthere. Tradition means something.

So it is with football in the LehighValley.

Lehigh University quarterbackAlbert W.Chenoweth (1917).

Few regions of the country canmatch the Lehigh Valley's combina-tion of tradition and quality in highschool football. The area can alsoboast of the longest-running rivalry incollege football—the Lehigh-Lafayette game has been playedannually since 1884.

Sometimes lost in the shadow ofthe Lehigh-Lafayette rivalry is thefootball history of another Bethlehemschool. This year marks the 100th

between Moravian—the school onMain Street in Bethlehem—and Muh-lenberg—the school on Chew Streetin Allentown.

The oldest Lehigh Valley highschool rivalry began in the 1890s; oth-ers started in the early part of the nextcentury. Despite some interruptionsand alterations, the rivalries have con-tinued to the present day. Pro FootballHall of Famer Chuck Bednarik, futureHall of Famer Andre Reed and numer-ous other athletes who reached thesport's highest level played scholasticfootball here.

Here is a look back (and ahead) atthe best high school and college foot-ball rivalries our area has to offer.

Lehigh MKBain Hawksv. Lafayette Leopards

FIRST Gf

SERIES RECORD: La|

THIS YEAR: Novi

11884|teleads 71-59-5MS @ Lafayette

To understand how longLafayette and Lehigh have been play-ing one another in football, considersome of the following facts: For thefirst 26 games of the series, a touch-down was only worth five points(according to the rules of college foot-ball); the forward pass didn't existuntil the schools had played 22 annu-al contests (the first pass was thrownby Lafayette's Edward Flad); ChesterA. Arthur was president of the UnitedStates when the first game wasplayed.

Over the course of 135 games,there have been numerous memo-rable battles. On November 21,1987,both teams came into the game withlosing records: Lehigh was 4-5-1 andLafayette was 4-6. The rivalry was notdirninished by this fact, because itwas to be the last game ever atLehigh's Taylor Stadium. With that in

Wlirn Mr( liiw;iii wan numi'il

Lafayette-Lehigh game and enjoyed ablazing start to the 1988 season, itappeared that fate had evened thescore for him. However, his footballcareer came to a sudden, unexpectedend on October 15, 1988. In a gameagainst Holy Cross, he was tackledfrom behind and fell to the groundwith his left leg bent behind him, tear-ing the anterior cruciate ligament inhis knee.

McGowan's story is but one ofsurely dozens. Dozens more await.

l(xitl) HI coach < leoroo i i.ii.r: Whim

Moravian uRMuhlenbe

bunds v.Mules

FIRST GAME: 1900

SERIES RECORD: Moravian leads 29-17-2

THIS YEAR: No&mberttiffi Moravian

It may be hard to believe, but forthe better part of the last hundredyears, the Moravian-Muhlenberggame wasn't much of a rivalry.Allentown's Muhlenberg consid-ered Lehigh its main rival untilMoravian's football program

the 6'2", 235-pound Bibighaus (big forhis time) to enroll at Wisconsin so hecould be drafted by and play for theBears after graduation. The only catchwas that Bibighaus would have tobegin his academic career all overagain—whereas if he returned toMuhlenberg, he would be a junior andcould complete his education in oneyear. Bibighaus was discharged on his23rd birthday Friday, February 26,1946. On Monday, March 1, he re-enrolled at Muhlenberg.

Says Bibighaus, "If Halas had letme come to Wisconsin as a junior Idefinitely would have went. But, I wasso close to graduating that it was real-ly an easy decision."

Muhlenberg was glad he made it.After a tough opening game withLafayette, the school from the westend of Allentown cruised through theregular season, its only loss coming toa powerful Delaware team. The NewYork Giants drafted Bibighaus afterhis career at Muhlenberg, but hebecame an educator instead. Before

the quarterback »i i i i f i < M m . . i i i n I t u i

ule that year," he recalls. "We thoughtthat if we could get a lead or keep itclose, our defense would hold them[Phillipsburg] off."

Getting a lead would be no easytask: The Stateliners had permitted amere 13 points for the entire seasonand were the top-ranked team in all ofNew Jersey.

Butler remembers the day vividly."Before the game, we went to gettaped up and we watched some of theNazareth-Wilson game before wewent to the locker room. I couldn'twait to get on the field." Then-gover-nor of New Jersey Robert Meynermade the trip across the DelawareRiver to be part of the overflow crowdof 17,000 at Lafayette's Fisher Field.

Easton got the break they neededearly. A snap from center sailed overthe head of the P'Burg punter andEaston's Dick Dalrymple pounced onthe loose ball at the Stateliners' 12-yard line. On third down, Butlerscrambled into the endzone, the extrapoint was good and Easton led 7-0. In

Moravian College 1970 team.

september/october 2000 - lehigh valley style . 71

september/october 2000 - lehigh valley style . 72

the second quarter Phillipsburgscored a touchdown to make it 7-6,but the extra point attempt never gotoff the ground as the Easton defensesmothered the kick. Then Easton heldon—stopping one Phillipsburg driveafter another. The upset wasn't secureuntil a late interception by Easton'sLarry Gaines in his own endzone.

The tables were turned in 1955 asEaston came into the game unbeaten.An even larger crowd of 20,000packed the stands. Easton took a 6-0lead in the third charter, but the extrapoint was blocked. Much like Easton

Bob Stem (who became coach in1983), dominated in the 1980s—beat-ing Central Catholic nine out of 10times. Stem was a hugely successfulcoach at Phillipsburg before comingto the Dewberry Avenue school. As ayoungster, he attended Syracuse, win-ning a national championship in 1959and playing with Ernie Davis, theHeisman Trophy-winning runningback who was struck down byleukemia in 1963.

Central gained some measure ofrevenge for its '80s futility by startingthe '90s with a 14-12 upset. That was

Muhlenberg versus Moravian game action.

score of their own for a final margin of42-28. "It was like the old days," Mor-gans recalls. "An hour and fifteen min-utes before the game, the stands werealready full."

When Central and Becahi hookup this year, you can almost guaran-tee that the stakes will be high yetagain

Catasauquv.Northa

pah Ridersn Konkrete

l,hu yuui boforo, I ' l i l l l i pub imj took

advantage of a turnover to get on the

HID only hUi inUi l i on Docahl'H i r u m len route to a Class AAA State Cham-

FIRSTGAI«|23SERIES RECORD: 45-28-4 Northampton

THIS YEAR: Thanksgiving Day @ Catasauqua

The Catasauqua-Northamptonrivalry is one of only three such gamesstill played on Thanksgiving Day inthe Lehigh Valley. (Easton-Phillips-burg and Quakertown-Pennridge arethe others.) The first 14 games of theseries saw Northampton score only 51points while winning just four games.Things changed, drastically, in 1937.The "Wonder Team" (as it becameknown) from Northampton routed theRough Riders 85-0. Remarkably, thatwasn't even the Konkrete Kids' largestmargin of victory that year. They beatSlatington 86-0. For the year, theyallowed only 25 points while posting astaggering 518 points. The team sentthree players to the pros: Walt Zirin-sky, Steve Pritko and Pete Schneider.

In 1939, Al Erdosy took the reignsof the Northampton football programand the Kids kept on winning. Histeam won 58 straight Lehigh ValleyLeague games from 19544962. WhenErdosy retired in 1967, his record wasa sterling 194-55-10. Legend has itthat the community so adored thecoach, they once chipped in to buyhim a new car. The stadium atNorthampton High School i;: nnmod in

—hUJ liuiiui.

In Erdosy's next-to-last year,

NORTHAMPTON HIGH SCHOOL

1937 WONDER TEAM

Northampton's 1937 "Wonder Team" posted 85-0 and 86-0 wins.

appeared to be the tying score. How-ever, since the kick returner never hadpossession of the ball, the play couldnot be advanced (according to highschool rules). The ball was returned tothe 40 and the Catasauqua defensestuffed Northampton. That was theclosest the Rough Riders carne toallowing a score in ending over twodecades of frustration with a 6-0 win.

Pennriiplarns v.Quakertown Panthers

FIRST;GAME:,W30SERIES RECORD: 42-23-5 Pennridge/Sell-PerkTHIS YEAR: Thanksgiving Day @ Quakertown

Note: In I960, SelleisvOle High

School and Perkasie High School

merged to form Sell-Perk. Three years

later, the school district changed the

name to Pennridge.

For a series that has had 70games, one game surprisingly standsabove all the rest. The 1952 Quaker-town-Sell-Perk tussle is talked aboutto this day in Upper Bucks county. Atleast 11 players from the game wenton to play in college and eight havebenn inducted into the Pennridge-

just made those guys madder whenthey heard about that."

Quakertown got on the board firstto go ahead 7-0. The Panthers had anoutstanding quarterback namedJohn Moyer; his cousin, Tom Moyer,was one of the backs. On a play earlyin the game, John lined up behind thetackle and went out for a pass. Run-ning towards the sidelines, Johnpulled the pass in and was shovedout of bounds. Unbeknownst to him,there was a sand pit used by long-jumpers for track and field competi-tions very near the benches. As hewas trying to stop his momentum, helanded in the pit and broke his leg.When John Moyer left the game, sodid the Quakertown offense. "OnceJohn left the game, I knew we werein trouble," says Blotter.

Pennridge couldn't take advan-tage of the injury until late in thefourth quarter when they scored toclose to 7-6. But fans stormed the fieldand pulled down both goal posts,making it impossible for Pennridge tokick the game-tying extra point.

Which team's fans were responsi-ble? Some say Quakertown's—

( ) i i , iK<: i tA)wn opuil.;; II.ill ul Kimi:.Among them is current Syracuse Uni-uQTcitir Athlotin nirentnr John

ln:i.,tn.u;u Lln'y ai<Jn I. vvuiil Lin; U.MIII jseason ruined by a tie with their arch-rival. Others sav Pennridge's—

i in n n m i n i in Minimi » i M m P I I I I I

the year before, Phillipsburg tookadvantage of a turnover to get on theboard. They recovered a fumble onEastern's 32-yard line. From there,quarterback Gus Rogers ran it to the1-yard line and running back BillyUpdyke dove into the endzone for thescore. Frank Balas, the Phillipsbuigkicker whose extra point attempt in1954 was thwarted, split the uprightsthis time to give P'Burg a 7-6 lead.Easton came right back and drove 85yards to the Phillipsburg 12-yard linewith 29 seconds remaining. A passplay put the ball on the 2. With theclock running, Bob Konders tried aquarterback sneak. The crowd waitedand the players waited, but the offi-cials never signaled the play a touch-down. The ball was placed four inchesfrom the endzone and time ran out.Phillipsburg had gotten its revenge.

Butler played in the 1955 gametoo and, despite the tough loss, heremembers those days fondly. "It wasa tremendous learning experience,"he says. "When you're young, youthink that if you work hard and play aswell as you normally do, you'll be suc-cessful. That's not always true. I thinkon that day [in 1955] Phillipsburg justwanted it a little more than we did.That's a great lesson for life."

Allentown CentralCatholic jfjkmqsv.

Bethlehem CatholicGolden lawks

F

SERIE

THIS YEAR: November 4 $

517-17

irney Crum Stadium

The Central-Becahi rivalry hasbeen called a "Holy War." It's a footballrivalry that may be among the mostbitter in the entire country.

Much of the intensity is due tothe success of both schools. Bethle-hem Catholic, led by outspoken coach

the only blemish on itecahl'ben route to a Class AAA State Cham-pionship. It was the second state titlein three years for the Bethlehemschool, having won the AA state titlein 1988.

1990 was also the first year of theJim Morgans era at Central. Only fouryears removed from a winless season,Morgans turned Central into a power-house. In nine years as head coach, heled the Vikings to six district titles, fiveconference titles and two state titles(in 1993 and 1998). He also went 9-1against Becahi.

Indeed, sometimes it seemed asthough the success of one schoolcame at the expense of the other.

Both programs may have been attheir peak when they met at Bethle-hem School District Stadium onNovember 5, 1994, before a crowdexceeding 15,000. Both teams camein with a record of 9-0. At stake wasthe East Perm Conference title andthe top seed in District 11 playoffs.Becahi had one of the most prolificplayers ever to come out of this area,Dan Kendra Jr., at quarterback. Thegame lived up to its hype.

Led by Kendra, who would throwfor nearly 300 yards in the game, theGolden Hawks took a 20-14 lead athalftime. But Central came out of thelocker room with fire in their eyes.They scored on their first three pos-sessions of the second half to moveahead 35-20. Then Kendra pulled off aplay that Central coach Jim Morganscalls "an absolutely unbelievable run."

Kendra took off from his own 24-yard line and twisted, turned, jukedand faked his way all the way downthe field for a touchdown. "It wasincredible," Morgans says. "It seemedlike every one of our players had achance to tackle him—twice"

The run would not be enough.Central held off Becahi and added a

In:; liuiiui.

In Erdosy's next-to-last year,1966, the Northampton team waslooking to win for the 22nd straighttime against their Thanksgiving Dayrivals to the south. But, the RoughRiders had had enough. Played beforewhat many observers believed to be arecord crowd of 11,000 at MuhlenbergCollege, Catasauqua got on the boardearly with a Keith Geiger touchdownin the first quarter. Northampton hadan opening in the third stanza when aCatasauqua player muffed his attemptto catch a punt at his 40-yard line.Northampton's Glenn Meyer recov-ered the ball and ran it in for what

Among them is current Syracuse Uni-versity Athletic Director JohnCrouthamel.

Quakertown came into the game7-1-1. The only loss came to a strongAmbler team and, in a game played ina torrential downpour, the Pantherstied Souderton, 0-0.

Pennridge, meanwhile, was suf-fering through a 1-8 season. Quaker-town was so confident of victory thatthe players were driven through townin Cadillac convertibles before thegame. "That really backfired on us,"remembers Bob Blotter, a center-line-backer on the Quakertown team. "It

bleY

season ruined by a tie with their arch-rival. Others say Pennridge's—because premature frustration ledthem to take the field in anger, pulldown the goalposts and deny the rivalschool that particular victory tradition.The debate is still on.

The Pennridge coaches insistedthat a new goal post be made so theycould have the opportunity to tie thegame. After a 30-minute delay, a newgoal post was erected. An undauntedfreshman kicker named Jim Non-nemaker booted the ball through theuprights and Pennridge had a remark-able—and controversial—tie.

Muhlenberg captain John Sweatlock and coach Floyd ( Ben) Schwartzwalder at the 1946 Tobacco Bowl.

September/October 2000 - lehigh valley style . 73

september/october 2000 - lehigh valley style . 74

Bangor!Argyl Gi

iy.Pennights

FIRST G||l£: 1922SERIES RECOjJ|il-35-2 Bangor

THIS YEAR: HMnber 4 @ Pen Argyl

The "Slate-Belt" rivalry has beenone of the most competitive in theLehigh Valley, even though Bangorwon 10 straight from 1989 to 1998.

Sadly, the game has been markedby tragedy in recent years. Before the1991 game, a former Pen Argyl studentfell to his death while painting a largerock green and white—the school col-ors of Pen Argyl.

Last year, the game was over-shadowed by news of the death of aBangor player. Inclement weatherdelayed the game early in the firsthalf. As both teams waited for condi-tions to improve, word of the Bangorplayer's passing spread through thestands and ultimately to the Bangorlocker room. Bangor coach MarkFanzan informed his players that asophomore player and his motherwere killed earlier in the day in a caraccident. The game was postponedand resumed the next day. Pen Argylwon the game to go unbeaten inleague play for the first time inschool history.

The 1949 game went untouchedby the cruel hand of fate. Bangor cameinto the game undefeated but wasknocked off by the Green Knights, 6-0.Late in the third period, a superb puntby the Slaters' Robert Smith pinnedPen Argyl at its own 7-yard line.Seemingly backed up in a hole theycouldn't possibly extricate them-selves from, running back Don Hard-ing got the Green Knights out of thejam—and then some. On the first playfollowing the punt, Harding took a

On November 11, 1977, Dieruffand Allen came together for the 19thtime. Dieruff was undefeated andranked third in the state. The Canariesof Allen were 1-8. Ironically, Dieruffwas coached by Bruce Trotter, an all-state end on the 1957 Allentown HighSchool team (Allen High School islocated in the building formerlyknown as Allentown High).

Allen moved the ball at willagainst the stunned Huskies. Theypenetrated deep into Dieruff territoryon several occasions, only to be deniedby a turnover or loss of downs. But inthe second quarter, running back TerryHeffner scored the only touchdownAllen would need. Their suffocatingdefense never allowed the Dieruffoffense to get going and the Canariespulled off one of the greatest upsets inLehigh Valley football history. As itturned out, the 1977 game was merelya prelude to the 1979 clash.

Again, Dieruff came into thegame unbeaten. Again, Allen came inwith a losing record (4-5-1). Allen wascoached by Dick Sniscak, who hadbeen a teammate of Dieruff coachTrotter on the undefeated 1956 Allen-town High School team. One ofDieruff's top players was Rich Snis-cak, son of the Allen head coach.

"The game was played in adownpour," says Rich Sniscak, whoplayed quarterback and defensiveback.. "It was really tough to movearound." He was mobile enough to hitRich Gimbor with a 5-yard touch-down pass late in the third charter togive Dieruff a 14-6 lead.

Sniscak was also in the thick ofthings on the other side of the ball. Atleast two Allen touchdowns werereversed by penalties, one of whichwas committed against Sniscak. The

A Freedom field goal (left) leads to 3-0 win in 1968 while players battled rain and mud (right).

lehem school district followed suit.The following year, the new publicschool (Freedom) took on the highschool formerly known as BethlehemHigh School (Liberty) for the firsttime in football.

It didn't take long for the rivalryto take shape. Today, during theweek preceding the game, there is aceremonial painting of the endzones,pep rallies at both schools and a"Bury the Hatchet" luncheon onWednesday to promote the game.Although, the game doesn't needmuch promoting.

The first meeting between thetwo Bethlehem public schools tookplace on November 15,1968. CurrentFreedom Athletic Director Al Snell-

n i i i i i was a sonlor on Uu: l ' ' i < -

who normally played offensiveguard. The holder? Al Snellman.Amole's kick was good and Freedomled 3-0. "I have no idea how he madethe kick in that weather," Snellmanrelates.

The field goal proved to be theonly score of the game. The Patriotssecured the victory in the fourthquarter when Jeff Wright recovered aLiberty fumble in his own endzone.

Parwa H»< v.White s

FIRST GAME: Began playing annually in 1975

SERIES RECORD Whitehall leads 16-12THIS YEAft October 6 & Whitehall

Parkland High School and White-

ale louylilyanart in their case, familiarity

Gerencser resigned in 1986 and,in 1993, Tony Cocca (an assistant toGerencser) took over. Meanwhile, atParkland, Rich Sniscak, the formerDieruff player and coach, took thereigns in 1994. Almost immediately,the competition between the schoolsbecame more balanced. Whitehallwon in Cocca's first year with Park-land winning in Sniscak's first year.

In 1996, the two teams started anew tradition of sorts. They playedeach other in the regular season andthen again in the District 11 playoffs.Except for last season, they've playedtwice a year every year since—split-ting the games each season.

"It seems like we've been goingback and forth recently," says White-

developed into a great rivalry because

:*'*l-''v": ;*iSp; Ai?|fc

it? .A 1% ! vx

Pen Argyl players celebrate a 1949 win over Bangor.

running play 93 yards for the winningtouchdown. Let's hope this year'sgame more resembles that 1949thriller than the 1999 edition.

AljeKapriesv. Dieruff Huskies

FIRST6AMi;1959SERIES RECORD: 23-19 Allen

THIS YEAR: November 3 91. Birney Crum Stadium

Allentown's 4th Street is morethan just a road. It is a dividing line.

If you live to the west of 4th,you're "Allen"—to the east, you're"Dieruff." That's what inner-citysports is all about. It's a turf war.Neighbors or close friends doing bat-tle and then talking about it after-wards. Since Dieruff High Schoolopened in 1959, the annual footballgame between the Allentown highschools occasionally put members ofthe same family on opposite sides of4th Street.

penalty occurred in front of the Allenbench and Sniscak made sure hisfather knew that the touchdown wasgoing to be nullified. "The officialthrew the [penalty] flag right next tome," Sniscak recalls. "And I picked itup and showed it to my dad .. . just tolet him know that the play was com-ing back."

Sniscak secured the 14-6 victoryand the undefeated season with anendzone interception late in the finalquarter. Thirteen years later, he wasthe head coach of Dieruff s last con-ference championship team.

FreedoiIISERIES RECOI

THIS YEAR: October 28Di:

riots v.canes8

leads 20-12lehem Area School

idium

Eight years after the Allentownschool district split in two, the Beth-

man was a senioi un Uiuteam. He has a flood of memoriesfrom the game. "It was muddy andmiserable," he remembers. "Therewas some question about whetherwe would even play. There was alsoa little problem about what side ofthe field the fans should sit. Evennow, Freedom is the guest teamwhen they play."

The initial meeting did, in fact,go off as scheduled as 8,500 fansbraved the elements to be a part oflocal high school football history.Freedom caught an early break byrecovering a fumble at the Hurri-canes' 39-yard line. A pass play putthe ball on the 12. After an incomple-tion, a third-down play was knockedback for a two-yard loss. Freedomthen lined up for a 31-yard field goalattempt. The kicker was Jack Amole,

i . j i i School aiu louy]

miles apart. In their case, familiaritymight not breed contempt—but itcertainly brings an intense footballrivalry.

The roots of the rivalry beganwhen the late Joe Gerencser becamehead coach at Parkland in 1962.Gerencser remained at the Orefleldschool until 1975 and led his team toundefeated and untied seasons in1966 and 1973. He left Parkland tobecome head coach at, you guessedit, Whitehall.

The first meeting between hisnew team and his old one in 1976resulted in a 63-6 thrashing by White-hall. Five years later, in 1981, Whitehallagain routed Parkland 62-0. Whitehallenjoyed another cakewalk, 51-0, in1990. Clearly, the Zephyrs were domi-nating the series.

developed into a great rivalry becauseboth schools are so strong."

Sniscak concurs: "These kidsgrow up playing against each otherfrom the time they are in the LittleLeagues. The proximity of the twoschools is also a big reason [for therivalry]."

The legacy of the coach whodeserves much of the credit for stok-ing the flames of the rivalry lives on,though. The Most Valuable Player ofthe regular-season meeting is award-ed the Joe Gerencser Trophy.

Much like the private-school ver-sion between Central and Becahi, aWhitehall-Parkland game is morethan just a border war—there is usu-ally a championship on the line. EShown Drury is a free-lance writerin Emmaus.

Former Parkland coach Joe Gerencser runs the Whitehall sideline post-1975.

september/octobei 2000 - lehigh valley style . 75