McGuffey to open football season at NA’s Football Classic
The WPIAL’s decision to allow football programs to play either a Week Zero game or a second preseason scrimmage helped reignite the Charleroi-Monessen rivalry and it’s also bringing North Allegheny High School’s Football Classic.
North Allegheny athletic director Bob Bozzuto announced last month that the school would be hosting a season-opening event featuring multiple games of WPIAL teams playing against teams from outside Pennsylvania.
Central Catholic joined North Allegheny and now McGuffey has followed suit, but the Highlanders will not open against an out-of-state opponent on either Friday, August 26 or Saturday, August 27.
McGuffey will play Frazier, which has moved up to 2A after it reached the WPIAL Class A semifinals last fall. North Allegheny will play Olentagy Liberty (Columbus, Ohio) and Central Catholic is facing St. John’s (DC). Bozzuto is also looking for an additional game to complete the two-day event.
The game is also drawing attention from ESPN, which has shown interest in broadcasting one or more games. It will be interesting to see which teams jump at the opportunity. There are plenty of games that could draw interest, including Mt. Lebanon against Upper St. Clair.
McGuffey is the latest local team to choose a Week Zero game over a scrimmage. Other local games that have been confirmed or are rumored include Beth-Center vs. Yough, Peters Township vs. Chartiers Valley, Monessen vs. Charleroi and Canon-McMillan vs. Kiski.
Remember that all games are on a two-year cycle, so it sounds like the teams participating in this kickoff classic will also play at North Allegheny in 2017.