Hittin’ The Road With Travelin’ Matt (Week 8)
Tagged under: District 11, District 7, Gameday Hub, News, pfn
Matt Herring | October 17, 2023
Each week Travelin’ Matt traverses Pennsylvania attending the hottest high school football games and best match ups in the Commonwealth. Follow his exploits each week as he documents his journey from Week Zero to the Pennsylvania State Football Finals!
Friday, October 13
5A Gateway (4-3) vs. 4A #9 McKeesport (6-1)
Saturday, October 14
2A Pen Argyl (4-3) vs. 2A #13 Schuylkill Haven (6-1)
4A #6 Allentown Central Catholic (5-2) vs. 5A Whitehall (4-3)
ROUNDTRIP – 643 MILES
Friday, October 13
I should have known kicking off a 600+ mile two-day football affair on Friday the 13th was tempting fate and the day alerted me I was in for a roller coaster ride of a weekend well before my alarm clock had a chance to gently awake me that morning.
The high-pitched chirp of a failing battery in one of my smoke detectors served as my wake up call on this morning and we all know there’s no sleeping through that unavoidable sound.. Without fail there wasn’t a single nine volt battery in the entire house and a brisk Fall early morning trip to the local Dollar General was in order to put an end to the annoyance. As the first customer to arrive at a yet-to-open Dollar General that morning I was treated to a step-by-step tutorial on how the manager unlocks the front door, disarms the burglar alarm, manually opens the sliding doors, reboots the registers, balances the till and places the drawer in each cash register. It is entirely possible I am halfway trained to becoming a badge-wearing Dollar General employee.
Returning home from my new employee orientation at Dollar General I spent the next 10 minutes determining which smoke alarm needed its battery replaced. Smoke detectors are armed with a perfectly devilish skill at projecting their sound upstairs when they are, in fact, located downstairs. Mystery solved…replaced the battery in the downstairs smoke detector and my first meaningful task of the day was completed.
I could have easily crawled back in bed to wait for the previously expected time for my awakening but I took a positive approach and used the early arising to get a jump on packing the car for my trip. As a veteran high school football traveler it is necessary to pack for every possible weather occurrence…rain, wind, snow, heat, cold…and it is advantageous to be over prepared than shorthanded in the clothing department. In the early days of traveling to games I spent too many days and nights soaked to the bone, shivering and freezing or overdressed on a hot day wearing when shorts would have been the better option.
Pro Tip #1 – As the temperatures turn downward in the Fall and Winter dress in layers and adjust as needed depending on conditions at the game. It is impossible to be over-prepared.
Pro tip #2 – There is no replacement for waterproof, windproof and well-made outer and under garments. I prefer Duluth Trading as my clothing supplier and their products have served me well over the years.
Car fully packed I pushed off at 11am from East/Central PA headed for Somerset and an early afternoon check-in at my Friday night hotel. The 3 hour/194 mile trek westward would land me at the hotel around 2pm where I could get checked in, grab a late lunch and have plenty of time for the 1 hour/57 mile north and westward leg to Gateway Gators High School well in advance of their 7pm kickoff against McKeesport.
Did I mention it was Friday the 13th? About 30 miles from arriving at the hotel, near Johnstown, the low tire indicator light violently flashed on my dashboard and I painfully observed the PSI indicator for my left front tire tick down rapidly…35, 30, 25, 20, 15. It’s amazing how quickly survival instincts kick in as you ponder which road you’re going to be stranded on for the next several hours. I was fortunate to have a nearby exit…maneuvered the car deftly into a Sheetz parking lot…and cozied my vehicle up to the free air dispenser.
Hoping I could fill the tire enough to limp to the closest tire shop for a repair or replacement I filled the now-flat tire with air and listened intently as it seeped out of the the sad-looking wheel as quickly as it was entering. I was well-aware of the ramifications of not having a spare in the car and the penalty in time it would inflict on my perfectly-planned early hotel check-in and late lunch.
I called AAA…waited an hour for the tow to arrive…and was thrilled to learn a tire shop was literally two-tenths of a mile from my stranded vehicle. Had I known I was so close to the repair shop I would have surely risked getting my vehicle there after pulling off the exit in an effort to save some time. Nevertheless, we loaded up the car on the AAA trailer and made the two minute trip to the repair shop.
It was now 3pm and I was doing the mental math of how long I could wait at the repair shop for a tire swap and still make it to Gateway High School for the 7pm kickoff. After all, it was mid-afternoon on a paycheck Friday and speedy tire repair is not always at the top of the list of every mechanic. What occurred next is a true testament to Western PA and its passion for high school football.
I had called ahead to Firestone Complete Auto Care in Johnstown prior to my arrival in an effort to save every minute possible once I got my car to their facility. Their employee, Amy, was extremely helpful on the phone and when I arrived she already had a list of their tire inventory in the size I needed. I explained to her my time crunch to get to the game and I overheard her say to a fellow employee, “We have to get this one done right away this guy has to get to the football game in Gateway.” I gave Amy a hearty high five and they got me back on the road in under an hour start to finish!
With about an hour of driving left from Johnstown to Gateway High School in Monroeville I blazed a trail up Route 403 to Route 22 speeding past the humble hamlets of Cramer, Armagh, Clyde, Blairsville, North Alexandria, Delmont and Export and pulled into Gateway High School with time to spare. That new tire rubber was smokin’ down the road for sure!
Having never attended a game at Gateway High School I was thankful for the early arrival to spend some time exploring the stadium. I like to give each stadium a full walk taking in the amenities, history, atmosphere and concession stand fare. What first caught my eye walking into the stadium was its name “Antimarino Stadium.” My initial thought was, “I know high school football rivalries are fiery in this part of the Commonwealth but what could the Gateway Gators possible have against former Pittsburgh Central Catholic QB and NFL Hall of Famer Dan Marino?” Does the dissent run that deep? (sarcasm)…
Upon entering Antimarino Stadium I was pleased to learn it was named after former Gator coaching legend Walter “Pete” Antimarino who guided the team for more than 40 years and not a jab at the former Miami Dolphins signal caller.
Gateway’s football stadium is decorated with nods to their impressive success on the field including banners highlighting their conference, WPIAL and three state championships. It also features an impressive HD quality video board that runs replays throughout the game after nearly every play. Home team touchdowns activate an interactive lighting system as well which adds to the player and fan experience. Also of note is their expansive press box towering above the stands. I am certain Gateway’s press box is equal or perhaps slightly bigger than the square footage of my own home. I’ll bet they have a few more smoke alarms in their press box than my house!
The stadium was already filling up quickly in anticipation of the evenings well-publicized District 7 matchup against McKeesport and I took a quick trip to the concession stand for some fare as I had skipped breakfast, missed lunch due to the flat tire and needed something to keep me upright during the game. Standard high school concession items were on the menu (hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries, etc) and the smell of the hamburgers on the grill was enough to convince me to take that route.
I’m often asked, “What’s the biggest difference between Western PA Football and Eastern PA Football?” Having attended hundreds of games all over the state my response is always the same. The stadium environments in Western PA are a little more charged up than on the Eastern PA side. It’s like the Western PA fans believe every play is the last they’ll ever see and I appreciate their passion.
My experience at the Gateway vs. McKeesport game was no different and the teams and their fans did not disappoint. While Gateway raced out to a 14-0 lead to energize the hometown crowd by halftime PA Football News 4A #9 ranked McKeesport had taken a 17-14 advantage and they never relinquished their advantage cruising to a hard-fought 38-28 victory for the Tigers. Game story below…
Post-game, uneventfully, I traveled about an hour to my hotel located south and east of Monroeville to get a jump on my cross-state trek planned for the following day. An efficient late night check in at a cozy family-owned hotel in Somerset fit the bill and after a quick trip to Sheetz for a snack my head hit the pillow by midnight where I didn’t waste any time slipping into a deep sleep to close the books on an eventful and full day of activities.
Saturday, October 14
At 6am I was awakened by my alarm clock…a welcome occurrence given it wasn’t a smoke alarm that rattled me out of the rack like the morning prior.
Steady rain was predicted throughout the day and Mother Nature did not disappoint as emerging from my hotel room it was certain to be a cold, raw and soggy Saturday. I loaded up the buggy dressed in my best Duluth Trading rain gear (in addition to thermal long johns) and I hit the road at 730am for the 4 hour/240 mile jaunt across the state to catch the 130pm Schuylkill Haven at Pen Argyl 2A District 11 contest. Traveling by I-76 to Allentown to I81 and then catching Route 33 to Pen Argyl the trip was enjoyable as the state is ablaze with brilliant Fall colors. I stopped just once to grab a much-needed morning coffee and to top off the gas tank at the Carlisle Love’s Truck Stop near the I-81 interchange.
Pen Argyl High School was my second new stadium of the weekend to visit and I quickly learned why its location is referred to as “The Hill.” Alumni Stadium is built into the side of a mountain with it’s one sided stands crawling steeply upward. A press box sits unattached to the stands at the top of the mountain and is only accessible by car (or golf cart) on a separate road behind the school. I passed on climbing the mountain to sit in the warm and dry press box and instead opted to take in the game in a driving rain storm (and 47 degrees) that lasted most of the game. Armed with my top-notch Duluth Trading rain gear I stayed as warm and dry as if I chose to view the game from the confines of the press box.
As for the game, I was witness to another thriller as the PA Football News 2A #13 ranked Schuylkill Haven Hurricanes (aptly named given the weather conditions) survived a valiant effort by the Pen Argyl Green Knights outlasting the home squad 28-21. Myself and a drenched and hearty home crowd were treated to a dandy Saturday afternoon contest despite the steady waterworks. Game story below…
After peeling off my wet outerwear and blasting the heat in the car I pushed off for my third game on the weekend…a brief 45 minute /30 mile crawl in the rain back down Routes 33 and 22 to historic J. Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown (another new stadium for me) for a 7pm contest featuring the PA Football News 4A #6 Allentown Central Catholic Vikings vs. 5A Whitehall Zephyrs.
J. Birney Crum Stadium is a 15,000 seat multi-purpose facility that’s been a staple to the Allentown community since it opened in 1948. The massive coliseum is the largest high school stadium in the state by seating and the 14th largest in the nation. The stadium is named for the man who, for 25 years, was head football, basketball and baseball coach at Allentown High School (now William Allen High School). Crum’s legendary football teams won nearly 200 games over his tenure including amassing a 60-3-3 record in the early to mid 1940’s. His football teams and their games were so well attended the stadium was expanded in 1948 to 22,500 seats to handle the crush of fans. In 1981, a year after his death, the stadium was officially named to honor his contributions to Allentown athletics. Since then, the stadium was again renovated retracting the seating back to its present-day capacity of 15,000.
In a continuing steady rain which occasionally featured passing heavy sheets of precipitation the hometown Allentown Central Catholic squad outlasted the visiting Zephrys 30-14 in a contest that hung in the balance late into the final quarter. The game was hotly contested and featured several bone-jarring hits by both teams in a well-played District 11 game despite the weather conditions.
I retreated to my car post-game, again, dry and warm thanks to my stellar rain gear and made the late-night hour and a half/74 mile trip home satisfied with the two-day, three game experience of Pennsylvania High School Football.
Follow along next week as Travelin’ Matt takes you on another PA High School Football journey!
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