Oct 24, 2018 3 min read

It was the fumble heard around Washington County.

On the soggy turf of Three Rivers Stadium, Rahmaire Brooks recovered a fumble with less than two minutes remaining in the 1993 WPIAL Class AA championship game. The play would end a 67-year title drought for the Washington High School football program.

The Prexies went on to defeat Riverside, 12-7, and become champions.

“This is going to be the day you’re going to remember for the rest of your lives,” Washington coach Guy Montecalvo told to his team after the win.

It will be remembered again Friday night when the school district will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the 1993 WPIAL championship and PIAA runner-up team during halftime of Washington’s regular-season finale against rival McGuffey.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

“You started to think the WPIAL championship thing was never going to happen,” WJPA Radio’s Bob Gregg said. “When they sealed it (with the fumble recovery), it was like, it’s going to happen. The 67 years of waiting was over. It was such a golden era of Wash High sports with everything happening, the resurgence of football and all of the WPIAL basketball championships in the ’80s. There was the fourth-and-long pass play for Bishop Canevin in 1990, to the disappointment of losing in the first round in 1991 and not making the playoffs in 1992, but they weren’t letting this one get away.”

Recovering the fumble with less than two minutes remaining to secure the five-point victory is still a vivid memory for Montecalvo, along with the run Washington made in the PIAA playoffs. The 1993 Prexies are one of only two teams from Washington County to play for a state football title, the other being the 2001 Washington team that was the PIAA Class AA champion.

“For me, it was kind of a relief. It was a monkey off of the back,” Montecalvo admitted. “I remember Bob Mazzie, one of our assistant coaches, sitting in the locker room yelling, ‘Finally!’ That was the emotions of our entire staff.”

To advance to the WPIAL championship, the Prexies defeated Burrell, 20-0, and knocked off West Allegheny in a thrilling 17-14 overtime game in the semifinals. Wash High lost to the Indians only a few weeks earlier in the regular season.

“I don’t think they win the WPIAL if they didn’t lose to West Allegheny in Week 9,” Gregg said. “You never learn as much from a win as you do from a loss. (Washington’s) approach was so much different. They got something from it. They learned something from it. And they were shown something by it.”

Washington shut out Forest Hills in the PIAA semifinals, 21-0, before falling to Dallas, 31-7, in the PIAA Class AA championship.

“Our kids understand the great tradition,” said Wash High coach Mike Bosnic. “A lot of our players have relatives on those past teams, including some from that ’93 team.”

“I’m really pleased that the school is honoring them,” Montecalvo said. “There is no group more deserving. Many of them have acknowledged themselves in so many other areas of life, which is the ultimate goal. Some guys I still see frequently. It’s going to be really great with everyone coming back.”