Oct 1, 2018 4 min read

The first six weeks of the high school football season have been notable for a variety of reasons, some good, others not so good.

There is the 5-0 start by Burgettstown that has the Blue Devils in first place in the Class 2A Three Rivers Conference. One of the best coaching jobs in the WPIAL is being done by Burgettstown’s always energetic Mark Druga.

Then there is Peters Township, which in consecutive weeks went on the road and knocked off previously undefeated opponents West Allegheny and North Hills. Peters Township is in the middle of the conference title race – when was the last time that could be written this late in the season? – in the Class 5A Allegheny Eight Conference.

And in Class A there is West Greene, which made the playoffs last year for the first time since 1993. The Pioneers can go a long way toward an outright Class A Tri-County South Conference title if they can win Friday at defending champion California.

Another highlight of the season was Beth-Center’s 28-27 upset of Charleroi last Friday night, which gave sole possession of first place in the Interstate Conference to McGuffey. The game drew a large and enthusiastic crowd and held great significance in the crowded conference standings.

It was remarkable for another reason – it was decided by one point.

It was only the second one-point game played by an area team this season and the first since Upper St. Clair edged South Fayette 34-33 in the opening week of the season.

Unfortunately, what local high school football has been best known for this season is blowouts. Noncompetitive, one-sided, Mercy Rule-invoking blowouts.

In the 95 games played by local teams – not counting Mapletown’s forfeit to Clairton – the average margin of victory has been an alarming 31.5 points. Only six games have been decided by three points or fewer. Forty-three of the 95 games (45 percent) have gone to the Mercy Rule – a “continuous clock” when a team has a lead of 35 points or more in the second half. This is a way to keep the scores closer in blowouts by ending the games sooner.

To see how this season compares to days of yesteryear, I pulled the game-by-game results from a random year, in this case it was 1994, and ran the numbers for the corresponding point in the season. That year, the average margin of victory through six weeks was only 19.8 points. There were 11 games that ended either in a tie or were decided by one point, including a 2-2 tie between Bentworth and California and a 3-2 win for Carmichaels over West Greene.

So why the uptick in blowouts? Wasn’t the six-class system the PIAA switched to a few years ago supposed to cut down on one-sided games?

Whether it’s improved passing games, the spread offense, too many teams with a lack of depth or simply bad tackling – the latter is a problem at all levels of football these days – never before has there been a greater divide between the haves and have-nots.

• The independent Frontier League, which includes the Washington Wild Things, will have a streamlined look next year. The Traverse City Beach Bums are no more. It was announced last week that the team’s ballpark, Wuerfel Park, has been sold and the new owner plans to field a team in the Northwoods League, a college summer league. All players on the Beach Bums have become free agents.

Rumors have circulated for months that the Normal CornBelters’ days in the Frontier League also will come an end. It was reported that the CornBelters did not have a representative at the Frontier League meetings last month. Though nothing official has been announced, word is CornBelters’ ownership is seeking a move to the Prospect League, also a college summer league.

The lure of a college summer league team is that players are amateurs, thus they are not paid, which means there is no costly worker’s compensation payments if a pitcher blows out an elbow or shoulder and requires surgery. The Traverse City Record Eagle reported that players in the Northwoods League pay $300 per season for a spot on a roster.

Expect the Frontier League to be at 10 teams next year for the first time since 2006.

• The Monday Night Football broadcast team of Joe Tessitore, Jason Witten and Booger McFarland have a long way to go to make us forget Frank Gifford, Don Meredith and Howard Cosell.

Sports editor Chris Dugan can be reached at dugan@observer-reporter.com.