GREAT READ!!!!!!!!!!!!! A History of the Mahanoy/Shenandoah Football Rivalry The “Backyard Brawl” Reaches 100 Games This football season on October 31, 2008 Mahanoy and Shenandoah will face off on the gridiron for the 100th time over a period of 108 years. Over the years, the game has produced some of the greatest individual and team performances in the fabled history of “the game”. The rivalry is one of the classic match-ups in the history of coal region football. You will always hear it said that no matter who is favored to win, the outcome is always uncertain. The first game was played in 1899, and the Mahanoy City “Praying Miners” came away with a low-scoring, 5-0, win over the Shenandoah squad. The next games were played in 1908 and 1909. Mahanoy was the victor in 1908 by a 10-0 win, and Shenandoah cracked into the win column in 1909 with a 17-0 victory. Over a twenty-two (22) year period from 1899 to 1920, the teams matched up 10 times compiling a 5-4-1 record in favor of the Shenandoah “Blue Devils”. The present day consecutive game streak of eighty-eight years (88), then, began in 1921 and has continued to this season with two games being played in 1933 and 1986. In 1986, Coach Bill Fazio led his Golden Bears to an 8-0 win over the Blue Devils to secure an Eastern Conference championship. All totaled, Shenandoah holds a firm edge in the rivalry with a record of 55-38-6 including the last eight contests from 2000-2007. The longest win streak in the rivalry history is nine consecutive wins for the Shenandoah teams from 1923-1931. With the end of World War II, the American Legion Posts from Mahanoy and Shenandoah decided to purchase a trophy to be awarded to the winning team each year. The trophy would contain the names of the first soldier killed in the war from each of the communities. And so, the Damato/Szematowicz Trophy appeared for the games from 1945-1958. Each year on the day after the game, a dinner was held for both teams at which, a most valuable player was named for each team and the trophy was awarded to the winning team. In case of a tie, each team would take the trophy for six months. Over the period of years from 1945-1958, the teams played against each other fourteen (14) times with Mahanoy City holding a 7-6-1 edge over the years. In 1958, Mahanoy City, a huge underdog, won the game 7-0 on an 80 yard interception run by John Pilconis. John’s father, Joseph Pilconis, was one of Mahanoy City’s and Mahanoy Area’s legendary coaches during these years. On the Shenandoah sideline was another legendary coach, Bernie Gazan, who moved over from coaching Mahanoy Township to Shenandoah in the 1950’s. The 1959-1960 school year saw the formation of the Mahanoy Area Jointure. The Mahanoy City Maroons (formerly the Praying Miners), the Mahanoy Township Purple Larks, The Delano Railroaders, and the Gilberton Ducktowners made up much of the jointure that also included Ryan Township and parts of Rush Township. As the jointure took its baby steps, the priority of awarding a football trophy was put on the back burner, and over the next thirty-seven (37) years the trophy stayed put in the Mahanoy Area High School. In 1967-1968, The Shenandoah Valley was formed as Shenandoah added the West Mahanoy Township Rams to its school system. This season the game is between the Royal Blue and White, Shenandoah Valley “Blue Devils” and the Black and Gold, Mahanoy Area “Golden Bears”, but it always was not that way. According to Dr. Stan Rakowski, Superintendent of Shenandoah schools, the “Blue Devil” mascot has been more or less a constant throughout the years of the rivalry. It is interesting to note the origin of the “Blue Devil” mascot designation. After serving in World War I, Al Symbal became the first “official” Shenandoah football coach. In the “War to End All Wars”, Symbal served with a crack French unit called the “Aldine Chauseurs” who were nicknamed the “Blue Devils”. They were known for their courage, tenacity, and relentless fighting spirit. Symbal adopted the name for his Shenandoah football team, and it has stuck to the present day. When the Mahanoy Jointure was formed in 1959, Dr. Frank Burock became the first Superintendent of Schools. Dr. Burock accepted the idea that one color from each of the schools in the jointure should be contained in the Mahanoy Area colors. Hence, “Black and Gold” was taken from Mahanoy City’s “Maroon and Black”, Mahanoy Township’s “Purple and Gold”, Gilberton’s “Blue and Gold”, and Delano’s “Red and Black”. In choosing a school nickname, Dr. Burock put democracy to work and had the students nominate and vote for the nickname. The student nominees were (1) “Golden Bears”, (2) “Chinese Bandits” (taken from the LSU kickoff team of the time) and (3) “Black Knights” (taken from the West Point Cadet football team). All of the high school students voted and the winner was, as you might have guessed, the “Golden Bears” which still holds today. Today, we ask was Dr. Burock so democratic and were the student votes really counted. Dr. Burock, you see, was a graduate of Kutztown State Teacher’s College where the nickname was and is the “Golden Bears”. In 1979, the Mahanoy Area High School on East Centre Street was destroyed by bursting water pipes. Luckily, the new school was under construction to be opened in 1979-1980 at the west end of Mahanoy City. At that time many of the artifacts were taken to the junk yards except for many of the trophies that found their way from the cases in the schools to the basement of John Murtin’s home. Murtin was a high school teacher at the time. When the Mahanoy City and Mahanoy Township Alumni Organizations were formed in the 1990’s, the trophies were resurrected and placed in cases in the school and Historical Society Building. Among the trophies, was the Damato/Szematowicz trophy. In 1995, Shenandoah Business Manager and former Blue Devil football player, Chuck Nowak, and Mahanoy Superintendent of Schools and former Mahanoy City football player, John Murtin, decided to bring back the trophy game. “I was at a meeting in the spring and Chuck Nowak was there,” Murtin remembers, “He brought up how Mahanoy and Shenandoah used to play for the trophy.” When I told him I had the original trophy he said, “Well, give us a chance to get it back.” William “Babe” Conroy summarized the event in an article, reprinted in part with his permission, on November 2, 1995 as follows: “The football teams of Mahanoy Area and Shenandoah will be playing for more than pride when they meet for the 75th straight year. They will be playing for a trophy named for two heroes that has been laying in storage for thirty-seven (37) years. The Damato/Szematowicz Trophy was awarded annually from 1945 to 1958 to the winner of the Mahanoy City/Shenandoah football game. The names themselves make the trophy a reverent piece of history. Cpl. Anthony Damato was a member of the 2nd Battalion, 22nd Marine Division, and 5th Amphibious Corps. He was killed on the night of February 19-20, 1944 in the Marshall Islands when he threw himself on an enemy grenade in a foxhole to save two other marines. For what President Franklin D. Roosevelt termed “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity” in his Presidential citation, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously. The American Legion Honor Post No. 702 in Shenandoah is named in his honor. Army Air Corps Pvt. Jerome Szematowicz was a chief mechanic with the 22nd Material Squadron. He was killed at Hickam Field in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, when the Japanese staged their sneak attack on December 7, 1941. He was awarded the Purple Heart for his service to his country. Both of these men, for whom the trophy is named, also had brothers killed in World War II. Damato’s brother, Neil, a captain in the Army Air Force, was listed as missing in action on November 5, 1943. Damato’s brother, Stanley, was killed in Italy. Both brothers were buried at the same time in the Saint Casimir’s Cemetery, Mahanoy City.” On October 30, 2008, both teams will meet for a dinner at the Mahanoy Elks Club to be awarded special game jerseys to be worn for this year’s game. Since 1995, the game has been played each year with the trophy going to the winner at the center of the field as the teams take to their huddles. Over the past years, Rick Williams, Rod Lechleitner, Jim Barron and Sam Quick have guided the “Golden Bears” onto the field. Sam Quick returns for the 2008 season as Head Coach for the Bears. Joe Ruth, Wally Hall, and Nick Sajone have been at the helm of the Blue Devils in the recent trophy games. Nick Sajone will lead his squad onto the field again in 2008. As the excitement grows and the 100th contest is played, all we can hope for is another 100 games in this exciting rivalry between MA and SV. John M. Murtin, MAHS “Class of 1961”
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 06:13:13 +0000
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