ADVERTISEMENT

OT: Best High School Football Facility in WPA

As a former Crusader from the old (mid/late 90s) 3 Rivers Conference (a lot of small rural AA schools) Carlynton was by far the worst I played at. No joke The next worst one was way better than Carlyntons. The locker room was small (normal for the conference) but it literally had no stalls for the toilets. There were just 3 toilets in the middle of the room, privacy be damned. The field was horrible also. The stands looked horrible (never sat there) but on the plus side, is that there was no track so close to the field and a home and away side. I hate one sided stadiums.
I always heard stories about some of those massive Big 10 stadiums that have absolutely atrocious visiting team locker rooms like what you described (although the quality of the playing surface you can imagine is a million times better than what you experienced at Carlynton, plus the grandstands at that those huge stadiums look pretty nice, although I was always unimpressed with Beaver Stadium's grandstands other than their sheer size).

I also dislike one-sided stadiums. Even if they put up relatively small stands on the other side, it's better no stands at all over there.
 
When did North Hills get rid of the track? I guess I have not been there since late 90s/early 2000s.
Sorry, couldn’t tell you. It’s been several years now. Redid the whole place and brought the bleachers up closer to the field. They have a fieldhouse in one of the endzones, so I was wrong when I previously said there was seating on all four sides. Still “enclosed,” though.
 
This is one of the coolest facilities I've seen with the field surrounded by the school itself



morgantown-pony-lewis-field-twitter.jpg
 
I always heard stories about some of those massive Big 10 stadiums that have absolutely atrocious visiting team locker rooms like what you described (although the quality of the playing surface you can imagine is a million times better than what you experienced at Carlynton, plus the grandstands at that those huge stadiums look pretty nice, although I was always unimpressed with Beaver Stadium's grandstands other than their sheer size).

I also dislike one-sided stadiums. Even if they put up relatively small stands on the other side, it's better no stands at all over there.

I doubt much has changed since then at Carlynton, though toilets may have stalls now?

7d4a701d-038f-11eb-be0e-0a376a727df0-67962A81-C6C3-4F01-A70A-F27FBE908314.jpeg
 
This is one of the coolest facilities I've seen with the field surrounded by the school itself



morgantown-pony-lewis-field-twitter.jpg
Yes, Morgantown High. Great photo. One thing I wanted to add because my HS built a new stadium now 15-20 years ago from the old stadium. The converted the track set up (which was in a natural bowl) and put the football stadium there, which made sense. BUT....I think a track surrounding the football field takes away from the atmosphere with the stands being much further away from the field. As we seen from the Morgantown shot.
 
I like the old stadiums in downtown's/neighborhoods to the new ones on campuses. Give me unique places like Wovearena, North Hills, Canon Mac (visitor side is too low but still), Monessen, the Pit, Greensburg Salem, Latrobe, etc over the cookie cutters on campus places like NA,PR, MT Leno, TJ, SF, USC anyday.

Back when I traveled for work, one of my areas was the Parkersburg WV/Marietta, OH. Some days when I was looking for a change of pace I would take WV Rt. 2 instead of US 77 & 70. On Rt. 2 there was this old town called St Mary's that had this old extremely unique stadium in the town that was so cool looking. I was half tempted to stay a Friday night just to catch a game to see it better. Every week I would tell myself "this week I'm staying Friday and going to the game, but by Friday I just wanted to get home. My last year before moving into the office, St Mary's WV built a new school with a whole campus along with a cookie cutter type stadium. I always thought what a damn shame it must be going from that unique stadium to a dime a dozen type place.

I was actually referring to some really old stadiums that are just sort of there. I know Donora still had Griffey field. There was an old stadium in Belle Vernon called “William ‘Bill’ Brewer Stadium” that sat back in the neighborhood. They used it for little league and we’d play pickup games on it.
 
I was actually referring to some really old stadiums that are just sort of there. I know Donora still had Griffey field. There was an old stadium in Belle Vernon called “William ‘Bill’ Brewer Stadium” that sat back in the neighborhood. They used it for little league and we’d play pickup games on it.

I just looked on Goorgle Earth, Griffey Field just looks like an empty field. I do not see bleachers or grandstand or anything. Up on the hill by a school there was another field but that too only had goal post and not bleachers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pittdan77
As a former Crusader from the old (mid/late 90s) 3 Rivers Conference (a lot of small rural AA schools) Carlynton was by far the worst I played at. No joke The next worst one was way better than Carlyntons. The locker room was small (normal for the conference) but it literally had no stalls for the toilets. There were just 3 toilets in the middle of the room, privacy be damned. The field was horrible also. The stands looked horrible (never sat there) but on the plus side, is that there was no track so close to the field and a home and away side. I hate one sided stadiums.
Canevin?
 

Yep, I also went to Seton La Salle for freshman and sophomore years but that was 3 Rivers Conference too. Some of the schools I played at that were all way better than Carlynton. Some not surprising some are.

South Park, Steel Valley, Quaker Valley (there old place), Washington, Burgettstown, South Side Beaver, Shady Side Academy, Cornell, hell even Stone Field with North Catholic was better.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ButtPilgrim2
Point Stadium in downtown Johnstown was a cool place to catch a high school football game in the past. It definintely had a big game atmosphere to it. Alas those days are gone.
I never thought that...It was a baseball field with stands on the home side (right first baseline) and crappy temporary bleachers in what was left and center field for the visitors. ... Now I did see some pretty good baseball players play there through the years in the AAABA. https://aaabajohnstown.org/mlb-alumni/
 
Last edited:
I just looked on Goorgle Earth, Griffey Field just looks like an empty field. I do not see bleachers or grandstand or anything. Up on the hill by a school there was another field but that too only had goal post and not bleachers.

I was lucky enough to have played there. Whatever was there probably fell down. I can’t recall where I saw it on TV but it looked rough.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mikefln
I never thought that...It was a baseball field with stands on the home side (right first baseline) and crappy temporary bleachers in what was left and center field for the visitors.


I must say, as I was reading his post I thought the same thing. I mean it's been 40 years (maybe even a few more than that) since I saw a game there, but I remember that place as being a terrible place to watch a game.
 
I must say, as I was reading his post I thought the same thing. I mean it's been 40 years (maybe even a few more than that) since I saw a game there, but I remember that place as being a terrible place to watch a game.

Not going to speak for him but Biship McCort used to be a state title contender back in the 90's. I think he was speaking more to the atmosphere those games provided than the actual stadium itself. I personally never seen a football game there, but it does look bad for that.
 
Not going to speak for him but Biship McCort used to be a state title contender back in the 90's. I think he was speaking more to the atmosphere those games provided than the actual stadium itself. I personally never seen a football game there, but it does look bad for that.
Bingo. People converging into town on a Friday night, bars outside full if people, it just had a big game atmosphere. Was it a nice stadium? Hell no. It was built in 1926. But much like Pitt Stadium, the old girl had a lot of history.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HailToPitt725
Bishop McCort still plays there. But the old point stadium was torn down and a new one was built in its place. I don't think I have been inside the new one actually.
The old one had much more seating and the RF stands were closer to the field for football games. Made for a great atmosphere.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Conemaugh
The old one had much more seating and the RF stands were closer to the field for football games. Made for a great atmosphere.
I heard there used to be an upper deck behind the home plate area (corner endzone). Were any of you guys around when that was still there? Long gone before my time. How about Joe Johns Jr high? Old Johnstown high school? also before my time. Those were giant schools back then and they competed well in the WPIAL. A thousand plus kids per grade. Johnstown high is now around 200 kids per grade. Hard to believe the decline.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HailToPitt725
I heard there used to be an upper deck behind the home plate area (corner endzone). Were any of you guys around when that was still there? Long gone before my time. How about Joe Johns Jr high? Old Johnstown high school? also before my time. Those were giant schools back then and they competed well in the WPIAL. A thousand plus kids per grade. Johnstown high is now around 200 kids per grade. Hard to believe the decline.
Yup, the big overhang on the home plate stands was from the original upper deck section. Back then, my grandmother graduated with about 2,000 kids in her class, before they consolidated Johnstown High School. By the time my dad graduated from Greater Johnstown, it was down to about 600 per class.
Point-Stadium-opening-night-1959-2.jpg
Point-Stadium-1947-line-for-jhs-fb-tickets2-800x470_c.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mikefln
Yup, the big overhang on the home plate stands was from the original upper deck section. Back then, my grandmother graduated with about 2,000 kids in her class, before they consolidated Johnstown High School. By the time my dad graduated from Greater Johnstown, it was down to about 600 per class.
Point-Stadium-opening-night-1959-2.jpg
Point-Stadium-1947-line-for-jhs-fb-tickets2-800x470_c.jpg
As this thread got me interested in high school football from the by gone era, I did a little Google research and saw Johnstown won a WPIAL football championship in 1958 against Clairton. Youtube has old footage of the season and it shows the goalposts being torn down in Pitt Stadium after the game.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HailToPitt725
Yup, the big overhang on the home plate stands was from the original upper deck section. Back then, my grandmother graduated with about 2,000 kids in her class, before they consolidated Johnstown High School. By the time my dad graduated from Greater Johnstown, it was down to about 600 per class.
Point-Stadium-opening-night-1959-2.jpg
Point-Stadium-1947-line-for-jhs-fb-tickets2-800x470_c.jpg
Great photos by the way! I think Johnstown high was around 1000 kids during my parent's time. They went through the Catholic school system though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HailToPitt725
Canevin either played at Keystone Oaks Stadium or Dormont Stadium for awhile. My high school played Canevin there in the 70/80's.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HailToPitt725
For just watching the game, nothing compares to Carl Aschman Stadium in Aliquippa. AKA THE PIT!
You feel that you are right on top of the players, natural grass, and huge fan intensity. It's old and decrepit but a great place to see the game. Visiting teams hate it!
 
I played at South Park in the early 90s. We bounced back and forth from century and 3 rivers conference. I don’t recall which school either Beth center or burgettstown but the locker room was a basically a shed with holes in the wooden floor. I think it was burgettstown, we had to bus to the school to shower after the game.
 
Didn't Canevin use Dormont Stadium for a long time? Or was that Seton Lasalle?

Both schools played there. Canevin still does. Seton LaSall changes home a lot. Because of use rentingDormont from KO, we played in the nicest facility in the conference. The thing was you had to play us early in the season to play on a nice field. With KO, Canevin, Seton LaSallle all playing there along with 4 youth KO area teams and jv and Varsity boys and girls soccer, it would go from the best grass in the conference to worst by week 3.
 
Last edited:
I played at South Park in the early 90s. We bounced back and forth from century and 3 rivers conference. I don’t recall which school either Beth center or burgettstown but the locker room was a basically a shed with wood floors with holes in the wooden floor. I think it was burgettstown, we had to bus to the school to shower after the game.

Burgettstown was small for sure but I think you are thinking of Beth Center. I don't remember wood floors unless they replaced it in the few years between us playing them.
 
Any new HS stadiums being planned?

Really, any new stadium could easily become the nicest in the WPIAL as most are no-frills. Not that you need "frills" in a HS stadium but I am surprised by this thread that there's really not a great HS stadium around here.

They built a new HS in Peters Township. Given the population growth and tax revenue in that district, you'd think that would be a candidate.
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT