Through the years: Aspinwall claimed 1943 Class B championship

By: George Guido
Thursday, November 30, 2023 | 3:24 PM

Each week during the high school football season, the Valley News Dispatch took a look back at the players, teams and events that are part of local scholastic history. We hope our readers have enjoyed this feature.

With the high school football season coming to an end, it’s time to look back at the 80th anniversary of the Alle-Kiski Valley’s most uniquely successful team.

The 1943 Aspinwall High School football team won the WPIAL Class B championship going undefeated, untied and unscored upon.

The Cavaliers (10-0-0) were the only area team that blanked all 10 opponents. Only four other WPIAL schools ever performed the incredible feat, and none since ’43.

Aspinwall completed the unique trifecta by defeating Pitcairn, 24-0, before 7,000 fans at Wilkinsburg’s Graham Field. The Railroaders came closest to scoring against Aspinwall that season. Quarterbacked by future Gateway hall of fame coach Walter “Pete” Antimarino, Pitcairn drove to the Cavaliers 2 behind the then-novel T formation.

But an Aspinwall goal-line stand kept the legacy alive.

Winning was nothing new to Aspinwall. The school began sponsoring football in 1907, and the program had just three losing seasons from 1926-45. During that time, the Cavaliers posted a 126-35-18 record for a .783 winning percentage.

Art “Mac” McComb was the coach during that era, excluding 1945.

The “Asps,” as newspaper headline writers sometimes called the team to conserve space, played their home games at a field on the western end of the Highland Park Bridge. The site is now used for two youth baseball fields.

Lou “Sonny” Yakopec and Bob Malec did most of the scoring in 1943. Yakopec was from Harmar Township but played for Aspinwall. At the time, students who lived in a municipality without a high school could go to the high school of their choice.

Yakopec chose Aspinwall over Oakmont or Springdale because of the college preparatory classes offered there, he said in a 1993 Valley News Dispatch interview. In 1956 as a soccer standout, Yakopec helped lead the Harmarville Hurricanes to the national club championship. Before that, he was part of the U.S. Olympic soccer team in the 1948 and ’52 games.

Yakopec later was Harmar’s police chief for a number of years. He died July 27, 1996.

Aspinwall repeated as WPIAL Class B champion in 1944, defeating East Pittsburgh, 20-6, at Etna High Field.

WPIAL Class B has been known as Class A since 1973.

Aspinwall closed its football history on a down note with an 0-9 season in 1960. The school, however, compiled 236-145-41 mark in its football legacy.

In 1961, Fox Chapel High School came on the scene, using Aspinwall’s schedule that inaugural season before formulating its own card in 1962.

Zeroes prevail

Here is Aspinwall’s road to the 1943 WPIAL Class B title:

Aspinwall 19, Apollo 0

Aspinwall 22, Shaler Township 0

Aspinwall 27, Freeport 0

Aspinwall 20, Oakmont 0

Aspinwall 26, Millvale 0

Aspinwall 28, Verona 0

Aspinwall 26, East Deer 0

Aspinwall 27, Belle Vernon 0

Aspinwall 26, Etna 0

WPIAL title game

Aspinwall 24, Pitcairn 0

Tags: Fox Chapel