(Beaver County, PA) This past Saturday, the Aliquippa Quips won their third PIAA state high school football championship, under the leadership of head coach Mike Warfield, with a stunning 35-0 victory over Middletown. In all, Beaver County high school football teams have won 9 state championships since state wide competition began in 1988.
Aliquippa’s, and Beaver County’s first state championship in high school football occurred in 1991 when the Quips topped Hanover Area 27-0 led by future N.F.L. star Ty Law and coached by Frank Marocco. The second title by the Quips came in 2003 when another player who would later on star in the pros, Darelle Revis, scored five times to power Aliquippa, coached by MIke Zmijanac that year, past Northern Lehigh by a score of 32-27.
Aliquippa was also the first area high school football team to ever play in a PIAA state state championship game when their nationally ranked team of 1988, led by Sean Gilbert and coached by Don Yanessa, was upset 13-0 by Berwick. That was the inaugural year for state wide playoffs in Pennsylvania for football. Berwick, that day, featured a quarterback who would go on to star at West Virginia, Jake Kelchner.
Middletown is no stranger to playing at Hersheypark Stadium and state championship games, and certainly no stranger to high school football teams from the Beaver County, PA area. Last year, the Blue Raiders of Middletown were defeated 41-24 by a neighboring school from just over the border in Allegheny County, Quaker Valley, who was coached by Jerry Veshio. The year before that, Beaver Falls topped the Blue Raiders in the state championship game in 2016 by a score of 30-13. Beaver Falls was coached by Ryan Matsook and led by star players Donovan Jeter , Malik Shepherd and Derrell Carter.
in 1998, two streaks of sorts began, the first was a string of years that saw Rochester win three titles over the next four years, and the second streak that began that year was the first of four years in a row that Southern Columbia high school would lose to a Beaver County team in the single A division final. Rochester, coached by Dan Matsook, beat southern Columbia 18-0 in 1998, followed by Rochester Ram victories over Southern Columbia by 22-14 in 2000 and 16-0 in 2001. The aforementioned Ryan Matsook, was an assistant under his uncle and head coach, Gene Matsook, at Rochester for the latter two championships. Another team of Rams, that being the South Side Rams, Coached By Glenn McDougal, handed Southern Columbia a loss in the title game of 1999 by a score of 27-21.
The county’s first class triple A high school football state championship happened in 2002 when the Hopewell Vikings, coached by Dave Vestal and led by former Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker, Paul Posluszny, defeated Strath Haven by a score of 21-10.
Beaver County Radio, 1230 WBVP and 1460 WMBA, will hold a special state championship celebration edition of Coaches Corner this Wednesday, December 12, from 7 until 8 P.M. with a live broadcast featuring Aliquippa Quips’ head coach, Mike Warfield, and his players on the sports patio at Robert’s Roadside Inn. Admission is free and it is open to the public. Complimentary PIzza from Pizza Joes In Beaver and wings from Robert’s Roadside Inn will be provided.