Jeannette chasing WPIAL-record 734th victory

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, November 22, 2017 | 4:33 PM

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Jeannette has been nipping at New Castle's heels since the season kicked off in August.

Now the Jayhawks finally can pull even with the school that has more football wins than any in WPIAL history.

If Jeannette (12-1) gets the job done in this weekend's WPIAL Class A championship against Imani Christian (11-2), it will tie New Castle with 734 wins.

“It's very important, but the thing is, if we go out and execute and win the game, all that will take care of itself,” Jeannette coach Roy Hall said. “You win, you tie it, but you also have another WPIAL championship.

“Just go out and win the game.”

The Jayhawks reached No. 700 in 2015. They have averaged 10 wins a season since the late 1990s.

Hall was a player in 1981, when Jeannette won its 400th game, and an assistant coach for Nos. 500 and 600.

The wins are a representation of 117 years of rich football history, one that includes eight WPIAL championships — a ninth within reach as the Jayhawks play in their third consecutive WPIAL final Saturday afternoon at Robert Morris in Moon.

“The city's spirit for the game is undying,” former coach Joe Mucci said before the season. Mucci won three WPIAL titles, in 1971, '81 and '83.

If Jeannette wins, it could go for the record-breaker in the PIAA playoffs the following week.

New Castle finished 7-4 after a 35-31 loss to Montour in the WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinals.

Football is a driving force in Jeannette. It's what people talk about at the grocery store, in the barber's chair or while they're waiting in line at the bank.

“Coming to the games in Little League, watching Terrelle (Pryor) and Jordan Hall run all over the field up there, it was great,” Jeannette senior lineman Jalen Jones said. “Everybody looked forward to it after school. We always talked about going to the Jayhawk games.

“I'm just focused on this game, it's, go get it,” Jones said. “It's for this whole team.”

Reaching another milestone would add to the town's conversation.

“It would be super,” Roy Hall said. “For the staff, the players, our support staff, our community, the whole town. They're riled up, they're ready to go. I'm hearing there's three or four buses ready to go to the game. We want to go down there and play the best we can.”

Jeannette has a long lineage of successful coaches, among them A. Markley Barnes (168 wins), Mucci (151), Art Tragesser (73), Bob Murphy (78), Ray Reitz (48) and Hall (82).

“I am in contact with every one of them,” Roy Hall said. “Before games, every one of them wishes me luck. I am just the next guy in line carrying on the Jeannette tradition.”

No. 734 would mean the world to longtime equipment manager Danny “Coop” Cooper. He is stepping down after 32 years on the job.

From “Coop's Corner” where the managers keep their necessities, to the back training room, to the wall of lockers where helmets hang decorated with helmet stickers and names Cooper placed neatly on them, the locker room at McKee Stadium has been Cooper's office for more than three decades.

As charming as a stale basement, the field-side shack is thick with memories. It's as dingy as it is nostalgic.

“You walk into that locker room, it's old and antiquated, but the spirit of all the guys that played here is strong,” said Cooper, 54. “You feel something when you walk in there. Jeannette football is family. Commitment, pride and family.”

Cooper, who has had four hip surgeries and another on his knee, is a coach in the Jeannette Midgets youth program. He said a few players heard he planned to call it quits last season but talked him into staying.

“One more year, they said,” Cooper said. “I said, all right, but only if we get a ring. Winning the championship in my last year, that would be … ”

Cooper fights back tears when he talks about his memories. He has been around hundreds of players, generations of family members in the program and dozens of coaches during playoff and title runs.

Cooper, who began dabbling in athletic training when he was a freshman at Jeannette in the late 1970s, graduated with Hall in 1982.

“Coach Hall is more than a coach,” Cooper said. “He takes it to heart. I've been so blessed to be here.”

Cooper knows the town will be out in full force as the Jayhawks chase 734.

“The game's not on TV?” he said. “Doesn't matter. They'll come by plane, bus, train, whatever. They'll be there.”

Bill Beckner Jr. is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.

Tags: Jeannette