This article was originally published in the Jan. 17, 2012, print edition of The Mercury.

Thanksgiving Day football is alive and well ... for another couple of years, perhaps longer.

For Owen J. Roberts and Pottstown, retaining their game – the area’s oldest Thanksgiving Day series – was a no-brainer. For Phoenixville and Spring-Ford, it took a little extra time and a whole lot of discussion about schedule commitments before officials from both schools agreed to continue their Thanksgiving Day series for at least two more years. The future of the third game, between Boyertown and Upper Perkiomen – which has been a fixture on the Thanksgiving Day card since the Bears returned to District 1 and became a member of the Pioneer Athletic Conference in 2002 – is still up in the air.

The area’s Thanksgiving football tradition appeared to be in serious jeopardy when a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association proposal to shorten the season from 16 to 15 weeks passed – nearly unanimously – through its first and second readings. However, during the PIAA Board of Directors meeting the weekend of the state final football championships in Hershey last month, the third and final reading failed to pass.

Representatives from several districts were taken aback by “new interpretations” of the proposal. Some suggested the shorter-season issue go back to each district for more discussion. Others said enough was enough already, that the 2012 schedules had to be drawn up and finished by February, so it was time to vote and get through the third and final reading.

Pennsylvania Coaches Representative Ron Kanaskie of Danville moved to table the third reading, but his motion failed. District 3’s Sam Elias moved to vote on the third reading.

They did ... and the proposal failed.

The result drew mixed reactions from coaches, administrators and fans around the Pioneer Athletic Conference (as well as around the entire state).

First of all, the 15-week season would have created scheduling problems for some PAC-10 schools, or at least those attempting to prioritize their postseason ambitions and respective Thanksgiving Day traditions. Had the proposal passed, all schools, including schools that do not play on Thanksgiving – Methacton, Perkiomen Valley, Pope John Paul II and Pottsgrove – would have had to go with one scrimmage, one non-league game and nine consecutive league games, or two scrimmages and nine consecutive league games, to fulfill their commitment to the league and finish by the final weekend of October. That would be the deadline because playoffs begin the following weekend, or a weekend earlier than the current postseason format.

The shortened season, without Thanksgiving Day games on the schedule, would also have meant no potential conflicts if a school played up to or through Thanksgiving. There actually haven’t been any such conflicts for the PAC-10’s current Class AAAA schools – Boyertown, Methacton, Owen J. Roberts, Perkiomen Valley and Spring-Ford – because four of five schools that have qualified for the playoffs have never won a postseason game in the big-school bracket, or played beyond the second weekend of November.

However, there have been a number of conflicts for other PAC-10 member schools – specifically Class AAA Phoenixville and Pottsgrove, as well as former member St. Pius X, which competed in Class AA as well as Class A before closing its doors in 2010 and merging with Kennedy-Kenrick at the new Pope John Paul II High School in Upper Providence Township.

Pottsgrove and Pius moved their Thanksgiving game up a day on two occasions because of playoff games either that following day or Saturday. The two teams’ went with junior varsity lineups for their final Thanksgiving meeting in 2009 because both the Falcons and Lions had playoff games that weekend.

The latest conflict occurred last November, when Phoenixville – after winning its first two postseason games to advance to the District 1-AAA final (against Pottsgrove) – had to play rival Spring-Ford at home on Thanksgiving eve, or two days before the championship showdown with Pottsgrove.

Those supporting the shortened season and abandoning altogether the Thanksgiving Day games, as well as those supporting the still intact 16-week season and retaining the Thanksgiving Day games, all have valid arguments.

However, exactly what you hear depends on what sideline you may be standing on.

Finding someone from Pottstown and Owen J. Roberts willing to exchange their 52-year-old Thanksgiving Day rivalry for a shorter season and possible long playoff run would be difficult.

“As most know, our game is more than just a game to the people in our communities,” said Owen J. Roberts athletic director Dave Strock, who lined up for three of them as a former Wildcat back in the mid 60s. “It was good to know the (district representatives) throughout Pennsylvania were able to see the negative impact (the 15-week season) would have had on some programs, schools and communities.”

Pottstown athletic director Pat Connors wasn’t even aware there was a possible issue.

“The game is on our schedule (for 2012) like it always has been,” Connors explained recently. “We were aware of the (shortened-season) proposal, and if things had changed we would’ve dealt with them. But nothing’s really changed for us.”

OJR head coach Tom Barr was quite happy to hear the Trojans will be making their scheduled Thanksgiving morning visit to Bucktown next November.

“The schedule is staying status quo, so we’re happy we’re keeping the Thanksgiving game,” said Tom Barr, who played in three of the games as a Wildcat and has guided his team in the past 15 meetings with Pottstown. “I would like to continue the game. I believe there are a lot of members of the community who enjoy watching the game on those Thursday mornings, and I am one of them.

“I enjoy the tradition. Many players walk away with great memories of their last game on Thanksgiving Day. It is not your typical game.”

The future of the Boyertown-Upper Perkiomen game on Thanksgiving hasn’t yet been decided. Upper Perkiomen is currently in the process of finding a new head coach following the resignation of Keith Leamer. Nonetheless, Bears head coach Mark Scisly is hoping to see the Thanksgiving Day series continue.

“Thanksgiving is a great tradition and I hope we continue it,” said Scisly, who just completed his fourth season with the Bears. “Football is more important to Thanksgiving than turkey and cranberry sauce. As far as I know, the only way we will stop playing (on Thanksgiving) is if we have no one to play.

“I am just glad the PIAA decided not to change the schedule. Some people say the football season is too long. But if you really think about it, only eight (state final) teams are affected by the extra week. So, are we going to make a change because eight teams are affected? That doesn’t make sense to me.”

Last November, Phoenixville head coach Bill Furlong had to prepare his Phantoms for three games – the district semifinal against Academy Park, the PAC-10 season finale with Spring-Ford, and the district final against Pottsgrove – in a period of nine days.

Despite that unenviable challenge, Furlong still has an open mind about Thanksgiving Day football.

“I could go either way,” he said. “The fact I don’t have the final say makes me not really feel strongly either way, too. I know as a district we are in favor of keeping it, and I go along with that. There are many positives playing (on Thanksgiving). If other people involved felt differently, I wouldn’t mind (not playing), too.

“I try to make the best of things, so if you tell me I have to play I can find many good reasons to (play). On the other hand, if you told me the game was not going to happen (on Thanksgiving) I could see advantages to that, too.”

If anyone could empathize with Furlong and the challenge his Phantoms faced, it was Spring-Ford head coach Chad Brubaker.

“I did not envy the position Phoenixville was in,” Brubaker explained. “There is a reason football games are scheduled one week apart. It’s a physical game, and it’s an understatement to say I wouldn’t be completely comfortable with our kids playing Wednesday and then again on Friday or Saturday.

“And that’s not even taking into consideration putting together and implementing a game plan. How do you prepare for a district championship game in two days? How do you compete with two district playoff-caliber teams in a matter of days? We hand out a 10-page game plan for each game with new plays, looks, stunts, etc. Now you go into the most important game of the year and have the least time to prepare?”

All good points.
And all good points about an imposing challenge that former St. Pius coaches Dave Bodolus and George Parkinson as well as Pottsgrove head coach Rick Pennypacker had to deal with in the past, like Furlong had to deal with back in November.

“It’s unfortunate that any of us are in this situation,” said an area coach, who asked to remain anonymous. “A lot of us (coaches) have played in a Thanksgiving game. We know how big a game, how big an event, it is. The idea of our football season ending in October, not playing football in November ... I don’t know how well that will go over in the community. It’s really a delicate issue.”

An issue that’s settled, but only settled for the time being.

Originally published Nov. 25 in the print edition of The Mercury

If I was asked once I was asked close to 50 times … all within two or so hours on one of the warmest Thanksgiving mornings in recent memory.

The question (to paraphrase the many posed) was, “Why do we have to give up Thanksgiving Day football?”

The truth is, no one has to.

Yes, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association is expected to approve the proposed “shorter season” during the third and final reading next month (according to just about every source imaginable in this great state of Pennsylvania, bet your house those fellas will, too). But nothing in that proposal will prevent anyone from playing football on Thanksgiving. Summer practice will kick off in mid-August, like it always has. But the regular season will end a week earlier, on the final weekend of October.

And that’s the problem … the big, big problem for the Thanksgiving Day football diehards.

Finding an opponent or opponents to fill in or cut into what will be a three week or more layoff between the end of the regular season and Thanksgiving will be difficult. A couple of athletic directors, even a few coaches, said it may be impossible. They aren’t fibbing, either.

Most if not all programs in District 1 will likely to line up (or cram) their respective future schedules into the new 11-week window. They’ll go with one of two scenarios – 1-and-10 or 2-and-9. That’s one week of practice capped off with a scrimmage, then 10 games; or the customary two weeks of practices and scrimmages, followed by nine games.

For the larger leagues, like the 10-team Pioneer Athletic Conference alignment, that means it’ll make the most sense to go with the 1-and-10 – a week of practice and scrimmage, then one non-league game followed by nine league games. It makes the most sense, that is, for those who put the postseason playoffs high on the priority list, or second only to winning the PAC-10 championship. However, others can still schedule those one or two non-league games, play eight league games, and finish up on Thanksgiving morning. But again, the problem will be filling that gaping hole in the schedule – or finding an opponent to play – on that first weekend of November.

While it may sound easy enough to do, it won’t be. Most if not all programs, even those that haven’t even come close to qualifying for the playoffs in the twentysome years they’ve been in existence, are going to shut down, pack up the gear and call it a season before flipping the calendar over to November.

One very interesting twist to all of this, though, is that the PAC-10 is split right down the middle with five Class AAAA schools and five Class AAA schools. Since 1988, when St. Pius X became the league’s first team to play in the postseason, through an antiquated qualifying process thrown in the trash a long, long time ago, only four schools – Boyertown (twice), Owen J. Roberts (once), Perkiomen Valley (once) and Spring-Ford (once) – have qualified for the AAAA playoffs. Methacton, the other quad-A representative, made back-to-back appearances in the AAA bracket back in 1994-95. For any of those five to have a legitimate chance of advancing into the postseason, using the current playoff points format, they’re going to have to defeat a Class AAAA non-league opponent and run the table in the PAC-10. One loss may not block that path, but two likely (if not assuredly) will, because so many other teams pick up big points week in and week out competing in leagues full of AAAA opponents.

The PAC-10’s remaining five schools in the AAA bracket – Phoenixville, Pope John Paul II, Pottsgrove, Pottstown and Upper Perkiomen – won’t mind the new “shorter season.” They shouldn’t, either. It benefits each and every one of them.

Former members Great Valley and Lansdale Catholic, which won a few district and sub-regional titles as well as a state championship, were often busy in the postseason. Phoenixville made three previous appearances before this season and will be lining up Saturday in the district final against Pottsgrove, which is in its eighth playoff run (all since 2000). Pottstown and Upper Perkiomen have made one and six playoff appearances, respectively.

And while there have only been four instances in which PAC-10 teams have had to juggle the schedule to accommodate one or two teams’ postseason games – like this week with Phoenixville moving its traditional Thanksgiving Day game against Spring-Ford up to Wednesday night – those four instances have created more than enough scheduling commotion and concern for players’ health and well-being … enough for most of those involved to say “enough already with Thanksgiving Day football.”

As hard as that is for diehards like myself to digest, it does carry considerable weight.

But there are still some area school officials – and some may be a stretch – who have actually said (or hinted as much) that they’d like to see their Thanksgiving Day games continue. Others have made it clear they have absolutely no interest in maintaining the tradition that, locally, has spanned four generations.

No one wants high school football players sitting around for nearly a month between games. That’s unfair to them, as well as to just about everyone else affiliated with the programs. Then again, except for the other diehards – those who want the regular season to end the final weekend of October to allow the “few” here and around the state to compete in the postseason – no one can quite comprehend the thought of no football in November, let alone no football on Thanksgiving.

Stay tuned. Or, as one area athletic director said this week, “it’s going to be at least another few months before anything is set in stone” for most of the PAC-10 football programs.

Thanksgiving Leftovers: No one anywhere around these parts enjoyed Thursday’s games more than members of Pottstown’s undefeated 1961 team. The grown-up youngsters, along with now grown-up assistant coach Bill Kerr, were treated to refreshments before the game in the Pottstown Middle School and recognized prior to the game, then walked together to midfield to serve as the Pottstown’s honorary captains for the coin flip. Then they watched the Trojans nearly duplicate their own 58-0 romp from 50 years ago with a 49-6 win over Owen J. Roberts. … OJR’s head coach for that game back in 1961, the legendary Henry “Hank” Bernat, also took in the game (from the opposing stands, of course). … Former Pottstown head coach Bill Rogers, who just completed his 53rd year of coaching the game – guiding the Trojans’ middle school program again this past season – was also in attendance. … Pottstown athletic director Pat Connors earned some props for his organization of Thursday’s special events. Great job by the second-year A.D., as well as by former A.D. John Armato. … Also, a rousing round of applause for the Owen J. Roberts and Pottstown marching bands, still two of the best around (and dare we say another important part of the Thanksgiving Day tradition).

Looking Ahead: Check out Saturday’s edition of The Mercury for an in-depth preview of the District 1-Class AAA final between Phoenixville and Pottsgrove, which kicks off later that afternoon (4:00) at Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School. … Also, check out Sunday’s edition for the district championship game story and more, and also for a look at the complete listing of the now-completed 2011 Pioneer Athletic Conference (only) team and individual leaders.

This column was originally published in the Nov. 22 edition of The Mercury.

Unless Mother Nature changes her tune, or you happen to be the Frosty Freddy Football who doesn’t even get a chill until the temperatures dip under zero with accompanying gusts of wind, dress warm this week. Before it’s over, it’ll be the area’s busiest Thanksgiving week of high school football on record.

And unless coaches and administrators at area schools change their tune, it’ll be the very last Thanksgiving week of high school football as we’ve come to know it.

What’s so ironic is that if the tradition and pageantry of Thanksgiving football does indeed end — as most predict it will — this last one may well be one of the most eventful since it all began way back in the early 1900s.

It all kicks off Wednesday night, when Spring-Ford travels to Phoenixville for its rescheduled (or pushed up) Thanksgiving Day game; continues Thursday morning with Upper Perkiomen at Boyertown and the area’s longest-running series featuring Owen J. Roberts and Pottstown at Grigg Memorial Field; and finishes up Saturday with Phoenixville and Pottsgrove playing for the District 1-Class AAA championship at, at, at… who-knows-where.

Oops – word just in – the Phantoms and Falcons will play 1 p.m. at Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School.

It took nearly three full days for everyone to get on the same page – and agree to what was on that page, as in time, date and site – for that district championship game. And it wasn’t that anyone needed another dose of disorder, but when Phoenixville and Pottsgrove both won their district semifinals last Friday night, the chaos began.

And before it ended, or when officials announced the exact time, date and site for the championship game at 11:15 a.m. Monday, one of the principles in the process was ready to “get a damn arbitrator.”

Calling the entire course of action frustrating would be an understatement.

But it’s not without precedent:

• Exactly 10 years ago, Pottsgrove – after losing the District 1-AAA final at Strath Haven the Friday before Thanksgiving – came back to defeat St. Pius X the night before Thanksgiving to deny the Lions a share of the PAC-10 championship and win the title outright. Two nights later, Pius regrouped, traveled up to Wilkes-Barre, and crushed nearby WB-Meyers in the PIAA-Class AA state quarterfinals.

• In 2007, Pottsgrove defeated Rustin and Franklin in its first two postseason games, thumped St. Pius X the night before Thanksgiving, then got thumped itself two nights later by Garnet Valley in the District 1/12-Class AAA Subregional final.

• Two years ago, Pottsgrove defeated Upper Moreland and Rustin in the first two rounds of the District 1-AAA playoffs, and St. Pius defeated Del Val Charter and Calvary Christian in the first two rounds of the District 1/11-Class A Subregional playoffs. The Falcons and Lions met Thursday morning – both agreeing to play their junior varsity teams – and Pottsgrove won easily to cap a perfect run through the PAC-10 in the final game between the two schools (Pius closed its doors the following June). Two days later, Pottsgove outlasted Interboro in overtime for the district title, while Pius fell to Tri-Valley in the first round of states.

In case you didn’t notice, in all three of those previous instances Pottsgrove had to come back two days after its Thanksgiving Eve or Thanksgiving Day games to resume its postseason schedule. And St. Pius X had to come back two days after its two Thanksgiving Eve and Thanksgiving Day games to resume its postseason schedule.

For the record, the PAC-10 has a rule that all league games must be played – so there was no way around not playing the Spring-Ford and Phoenixville game; the district agreed, several years ago, that all district finals in the Class AAAA and AAA brackets would be played at a neutral site with turf – and despite admirable attempts to get the Phoenixville-Pottsgrove showdown played somewhere within the PAC-10 neighborhood, those attempts failed because PAC-10 schools with turf had already begun winterizing their facilities and the costs to reverse that work would’ve been exorbitant.

Everyone involved, from the coaches and athletic directors at Phoenixville and Pottsgrove to the District 1 officials – namely executive chairman Rod Stone, executive secretary Bob Ruoff and football chairman Bob Boyer – was frustrated after two-plus days of trying to establish a time, date and site … and mentally wasted after desperately trying to keep everyone happy in the process.

For that, they more than earn a round of applause.

But after this week, the odds are you will not – repeat – will not be hearing any round of applause on any area football field on Thanksgiving Day.

The Hill School, right smack in the middle of the Mid-Atlantic Prep League title chase until dropping its final three games, got a pick-me-up of sorts last week when Adam Regensburg, Fred Santarelli and Jack Mellgard were among the All-MAPL first-team selections.

Regensburg, who broke Hill’s single-season receiving record and had eight interceptions, was a two-way pick at receiver and defensive back. The Towson-bound Santarelli was named as an offensive lineman and Mellgard as a linebacker.

“Regensburg was a dynamic player for us who plays on both sides of the ball,” Hill head coach Grey Simpson said. “It was no surprise he was voted to the first team on offense and defense, and he was in the conversation as a Player of the Year (candidate), too.

“Santarelli was a dominant offensive lineman, clearly one of the top lineman in the MAPL, and was a unanimous selection. And Mellgard was a unanimous selection at linebacker, the deepest position in the MAPL. (Mellgard’s) contributions to our team were praised by all the league coaches.”

The Rams also had four players receive honorable mention – Santarelli (defensive lineman), Nate Mueller (linebacker), Kwame Larbi (running back) and Grant Smith (quarterback).

Sad news hit the Owen J. Roberts football community this past weekend when it was learned Charles Nesley, the father of assistant coach Chuck Nesley, passed away.

The 62-year-old Nesley, a longtime member of the Bucktown Boosters and as big a supporter of the program as anyone, was a 1968 graduate of OJR. He played football for Henry Bernat, and won’t likely ever be named to any all-time team this or all-time team that. But one thing Nesley did do was play the game like few others. He played every single down as if it was his last one, played every single down as if it was the difference between winning and losing a championship. And if he had a broken finger, broken leg, broken ribs or concussion, as long as he could stand, he was out on the field… playing to win.

Not surprising, it’s how his son (Chuck) and daughter (Jen) competed, both in high school and college.

Yes, he will absolutely be missed. Charles leaves us with so many great memories, a blessing in itself. But what many of us will remember most about Charles Nesley was that as hard as he played the game, he was just as soft-hearted a man as a husband to Sue; as a father to Chuck and Jen; and as a genuine friend – with that quirky smile – to countless others.