the wpial games are at Heinz/ accrisure. 4 of them. They have 6 divisions now and there isn’t enough hours in the day to have 6 games at one stadium.
Question on 5A/6A Finals?
- Thread starter Sean Miller Fan
- Start date
The atmosphere @ Norwin was better then any game I've ever seen at Heinz for HS football. The parking sucked but the stands were packed and both fanbases were loud for 4 quarters.
Nothing more depressing than these high school championship games having 4,000 fans at noon in a 60k pro stadium.
Looks awful, probably worse being there and of course on torn up grass field with different shades of green replacement sod between the hashes they is accrisure stadium
My HS basketball team was pretty good and back then the finals were at Palumbo. My friends and I always talked about the goal of playing at Palumbo. We watched it on TV and dreamed of playing there. It was only Duquesne but the thought of playing on a D1 court was everything. In fact, the few years prior, they played the semis at RMU and we were so excited to make the semis, thinking we would be playing on a D1 court but were disappointed to learn we would be playing at a HS instead even though the HS was so much closer. Every single one of us would have preferred playing the semi at RMU. You want to play on the biggest stages and yea, I know the old RMU arena was trash but it was D1.
I can tell you that kids want to play at pro or D1 venues like a million times more than a HS venue. The crowd of 4000 in a 70K seat stadium is meaningless to them. Its a dream to play there. I am positive that if you asked all the 5A/6A players if they would rather play at Acrisure or Norwin, every single one would have chosen Acrisure despite the "great atmosphere" at Norwin's Track and Field Stadium.
last year when they asked the Southern Columbia kids about not playing at Hershey, they said something like "we don't care if we play in someone's backyard - we just want to win."
Back when they had state bball championships at PSU - there were kids out east saying they'd rather play at Martz Hall - Chester was one of them.
No one gave a shit about playing basketball at the old Hershey fieldhouse. Where I'm from out east we have way better HS venues then that place.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
It's cool to point and say you got to play in that stadium but it's kind of funny that the PIAA avoids grass like the plague and yet, here we are. Hopefully weather isn't an issue this weekend.
Atmosphere-wise, its big-time for the players. BIG-TIME. They don't care about 65K empty seats. It gets no bigger than an NFL or major D1 venue.
Did you think Southern Columbia players were going to go on the record saying, "it kinda sucks we have to play at a high school track and field stadium. Would have much preferred Hershey but it is what it is."
If they actually felt that way, why wouldn't they say it? Do you think the PIAA was going to fine them or suspend them for saying that?
Joe, come on man. You watch sports, right. How many times in the history of sports has a player or coach complained on the record about a venue or field conditions. Maybe a couple out of hundreds of thousands of answers. The line is "we just want to win no matter where they play." Or "the field conditions are the same for both teams." To be fair, the Hershey stadium isnt that great but at least its a football stadium and not a HS track and field stadium. Its not as big of a let down playing at Pennsyltucky HS than it is playing at Norwin instead of Acrisure. The 3A-6A games should have been at Acrisure on Saturday. The 9-13 seeds in 4A and 9-12 seeds in 3A had a 0.0% shot of even reaching the final. There's no upsets in WPIAL football. Just do an 8 team tournament so the big schools can play at Acrisure. Send Fort Cherry to McGuffey HS for their final. They have a good press box I heard plus gray turf
About something meaningless like that? Plenty of times. If you've never heard it it's simply because you don't pay any attention.
Seriously, what is the downside of any one of those kids or the coaches saying something like "man, we really miss out on playing at the Taj Mahal that is Hershey Park Stadium"? In fact there is none. And the notion that coaches and players don't complain about stuff like that is just another in the (very long) list of things that you know 100% to be true that actually just isn't.
1st of all, its an andectotal report of a Southern Columbia player saying that. He doesn't speak for all PIAA players. Second of all, you know most players and coaches dont tell the whole truth in times like this. Its always "we are just worried about winning." That’s the line. You know this. Also, as I said, Hersheypark Stadium isnt much of an upgrade from Pennsyltucky HS. The game should be played at Bucknell's beautiful stadium or PSU. PSU bid too much. So what, dont be broke as shit. Every other state outside of a few New England states play at pro or college venues. You will say "you cant force Bucknell to bid." Well, you go to them and you say we will pay you X and bring thousand of HS students to your campus for an unofficial visit, what do you think? They will say yes. Then you will say there's no parking. Yet, somehow 4000 fans find somewhere to park for weeknight basketball games, including Patriot League tournament games.
If a CHAMPIONSHIP is on the line, nobody involved (coaches, players) cares if the venue is Acrisure or your backyard.
I played at Three Rivers in high school, and the stadium was probably 1/10th full, but it was absolutely awesome playing there. Way better than any high school venue. I distinctly remember how cool it was to see replays on the video board, and the loud sound system blasting music right before you get to run down on kickoff. Also the big locker rooms were nice.
Would my teammates and I have played at Norwin? Sure. But if given a choice, we would pick the pro venue every time.
No question. Literally 100% of HS players would rather play at Acrisure than Norwin. The notion that they'd rather play at Norwin because its a "better atmosphere" is beyond ridiculous. Kids want to play where the pros play (or a major college venue). I said in this post or another that my team was 1 game away from Palumbo and that was a dream of ours to play there. And Palumbo sucked.
Really? My brother coached in VA and their state championship was at Salem High School.
I get the nostalgia of a pro or college stadium. But, we have dozens of high school venues that have huge video replay boards, loud pumped in music, LED lights that do all the flashy stuff, and they have big locker rooms.
When PITT used to play out at veterans stadium vs Temple, there would be 10-15k fans there in the 90's, at least it seemed that way.
It was not uncommon at all to hear players saying "I'd rather play at my high school stadium then this." It was a somber experience to say the least.
It was not uncommon at all to hear players saying "I'd rather play at my high school stadium then this." It was a somber experience to say the least.
5A and 6A play at UVa
3A and 4A play at Liberty
1A and 2A play at Salem City Stadium which is not technically a HS stadium. Its the city's stadium and hosted the NCAA D3 National Championship from 1993-2017. I believe the local HS team does play there though. This would be similar to Hersheypark Stadium.
PA is the only major state with such deep financial problems that they have to play at high school
Admittedly this was decades ago, so comparing Three Rivers to the present day isn't exactly the same. But looking at Acrisure, there isn't a high school in the country, not even in Texas, that has an Acrisure Stadium-sized video board. The acoustics necessary to pump music through a 70k open-air, open-sided stadium like Acrisure is like hundreds of time louder than any high school. It's a special atmosphere that no high school stadium replicates and as a player, I'd much rather be playing there for a championship type game.
Obviously there is more to the WPIAL and PIAA's decisions than just what the high school kids want, I get that. But it still makes it more exciting for the high school kids. I actually think Highmark Stadium is a really nice idea for the WPIAL, despite it's small size.
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