Rivalries renewed, retained with high school football schedule
McGuffey head coach Ed Dalton got his wish when the Highlanders moved down one classification and returned to a much more familiar conference.
Dalton had his second wish of playing Washington in the regular season finale granted Tuesday morning when the WPIAL released the football schedules for the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
McGuffey will play the Prexies, who are now in the same conference because of the recent realignment in Class AA, at Wash High Stadium on Oct. 26.
“Obviously, (Washington) is the defending WPIAL champion,” Dalton said. “They have a target on their backs. It’s only a few miles away from McGuffey. Our guys know their guys. I think you always have your eyes set on the top dog, and right now that’s where my attention has been. If you want to be the guy, you have to beat the guy.”
The Highlanders last played Washington in the final game of the regular season in 2015, a game the Prexies won, 42-7. In 2014, Washington defeated McGuffey, 27-14, in a conference game also played at the end of October.
Once McGuffey moved up to Class 3A two seasons ago, Washington fell off the schedule and the rivalry fell by the wayside. The Highlanders attempted to develop new conference rivalries with schools more than an hour away, including Derry and Mt. Pleasant.
“We developed rivalries simply because of competition, not because of long-term relationships,” Dalton said. “I think being in this conference and playing Washington is pretty exciting. It’s great for our fan base because they were part of this rivalry growing up.”
One rivalry that will remain intact, at least for the next two seasons, is Canon-McMillan and Peters Township. Despite the Indians dropping to Class 5A, and C-M remaining in 6A, Big Macs’ head coach Mike Evans said it was good to see the WPIAL committee keep traditional rivalries to the best of its ability.
“We were already talking to (Peters Township) about matching up in Week Zero,” Evans said before the schedule was released. “We were trying real hard to keep the rivalry going. Our new schedule doesn’t have a lot of those natural rivalries. We are playing teams without any familiarity. These kids have been playing against one another in all the other sports growing up. The kids want to play one another.”
Canon-McMillan takes the short trip to Peters Township on Sept. 28.
Another non-conference game will feature the two local teams that remained in the playoffs longer than any others last season. Washington will travel to play California Sept. 21.
The Trojans run a similar offense to that of Wilmington, which ended the Prexies’ playoff run last season with a 49-42 thriller in the state semifinal.
“We don’t really have control over any of that,” Washington head coach Mike Bosnic said about the Prexies’ schedule. “I know (California) had a really strong team last year. We are excited. I think they’ll be a real challenge for us.”