Most of our WPIAL coverage on Steel City Blitz is objective coverage, discussing standings, playoff scenarios, and Games of the Week. This project is be something a little different – a first-person account of my family visiting different towns and stadiums throughout Western Pennsylvania. Three years ago I started the Tour of the WPIAL with visits to Rochester, Southmoreland, and West Greene. Unfortunately we weren’t able to make any visits in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic, but with fans allowed back in attendance last year, the Tour continued! We were able to visit Sto-Rox, Laurel, and Belle Vernon. This year we have visited Seneca Valley, Dormont Stadium (to see both Keystone Oaks and Bishop Canevin), and Laurel Highlands. This week, we took a trip north through the scenic fall foliage to see Leechburg!
Leechburg
Nickname: Blue Devils
WPIAL Championships: 3 (1953, 1965, 1966)
Municipalities: Leechburg Borough, West Leechburg Borough, Gilpin Township
Town History
Leechburg Area School District covers three neighboring municipalities in Armstrong and Westmoreland Counties. The area is bisected by the Kiskiminetas River (colloquially “the Kiski”), which serves as the northern boundary line between Westmoreland County and Armstrong County. Due to this divider, the town of West Leechburg is technically in Westmoreland County south of the river while the town of Leechburg and Gilpin Township are north of the river in Armstrong County. The area of Gilpin Township follows the Kiski river on its southern boundary to the confluence with the Allegheny River. The Allegheny forms the northern boundary of mostly rural Gilpin Township.
Originally, the area that makes up Leechburg was owned by the Delaware Indians. Chief White Mattock obtained the rights to approximately 190 acres in the time shortly after the Revolutionary War. Some European settlers came to the area in the early 1800s and the area was known as “White Plains” and “Friendship.” The early farmers were primarily British and German. In 1827, David Leech came to the area with a contract for construction of a lock and dam as part of the new Pennsylvania Canal which would connect Pittsburgh to Philadelphia by waterway. Leech was a civil engineer from Mercer County and purchased land from Chief White Mattock and other surrounding property owners. With the construction of the canal, the area became a popular destination for Irish immigrants looking for work. With the construction of the lock and dam, Leechburg became a major port on the Canal route and in the later half of the 19th century would transition into an industrial hub. The Borough of Leechburg was incorporated in 1850 and named for David Leech. Over the next decade, technology improvements in steam locomotives made the canal system obsolete as the Pennsylvania Railroad system became the primary means of transportation. Leechburg continued to flourish and became a rail hub. The first steel mill was constructed in Leechburg in 1872 and in 1900 became part of the US Steel Corporation. Interestingly, this was the first mill in the world to melt steel using natural gas. The surrounding areas were abundant with coal, and mining and steel became the primary industries of Leechburg throughout the 20th century.
Across the river, West Leechburg was developed in a similar timeframe. The Hill family were some of the first European settlers to own significant amounts of land, starting with Levi Hill in 1843. The Hillville area of the Borough is named in their honor. In 1897, the West Leechburg Steel and Tin Plate Company (which would later become the West Leechburg Steel Company and subsequently become part of Allegheny Ludlum Steel in 1938) was founded along the bank of the Kiskiminetas River. Given the connection with the industrial factories on the other side of the river, the area became known as West Leechburg, though it was still part of Allegheny Township by law. In the 1920s, a united group of residents from Hillville and West Leechburg successfully seceded from Allegheny Township and West Leechburg Borough was incorporated in 1928. The steel industry and coal mines brought many immigrants to the area in the first half of the 20th century. Allegheny Ludlum (now Allegheny Technologies) idled the West Leechburg plant in 2006.
Gilpin Township is mostly rural but contains many small communities which were never incorporated into formal municipalities of their own. The area was settled in the early 1800s with sawmills as the first industries. The most famous was Schenley, located on the northern side of the confluence of the Kiski and Allegheny Rivers. The Schenley Distilling Company produced whiskey until Prohibition when they were one of just six companies to obtain a permit from the US government to produce medicinal spirits and allowed to remain open. After Prohibition, Schenley was the largest liquor company in America. The village of Bagdad, located about halfway between Schenley and Leechburg, was the site of the last Allegheny Ludlum steel mill built in the area, which opened in 1960 and closed in 2016. Bagdad was also the site of numerous salt mines.
Football History
Leechburg Area High School was originally built in 1922. Leechburg had a football team that competed in 1908 but then took a decade off and reformed in 1909. They joined the WPIAL in 1923. Mirroring the town’s development and growth as an industrial hub of mining and steel, Leechburg became a strong program in the post-war era. The Blue Devils had undefeated 10-0 seasons in 1949 and 1950, a 9-0-1 campaign in 1952, followed by a 10-0 season in 1953. Competing in Class A (the middle of three classification, which would be renamed “AA” in 1973), Leechburg was not selected to compete for the WPIAL title in 1949, 1950, or 1952. The Blue Devils won their first WPIAL Championship in 1953 with a 26-21 win over Baldwin. A little over a decade later, Leechburg would once again find themselves at the top, winning the Class A (later AA) title 37-7 over California in 1965 to complete another 10-0 campaign. The Blue Devils followed it up with another 10-0 season in 1966 which ended with their third WPIAL Championship, defeating Avella 20-0 in the Class B (later Class A) Championship Game. That 1966 team is still remembered with a banner in the corner of the end zone.
Leechburg had another unbeaten regular season in 1978, winning the Class AA Allegheny East conference title. They defeated Neshannock in the first round of the AA playoffs before falling to eventual WPIAL Champions Knoch 19-14 in the semifinals. Leechburg would make the playoffs again in 1980 and 1988, falling in the quarterfinals both times. After 1988, they would endure a down turn that lasted 32 years, failing to make the playoffs until the 2021 team broke the drought. Leechburg’s 2021 team would also win their opening playoff game against California. Not only did the 2021 team make the playoffs for the first time in 32 years, but also won a playoff game for the first time since 1978. Leechburg returned a number of starters from last year’s team, led by explosive RB Braylan Lovelace who has committed to Pitt. Interestingly, Braylan is Leechburg’s first player to go to a D1 program since his father David Lovelace went to Rutgers in 1993. The community has fully embraced the accomplishments of this team and this senior class that ended the postseason drought and have even bigger goals head.
Our Visit
The drive into Leechburg is absolutely beautiful this time of year. Coming from the south, we crossed the Tarentum Bridge and drove through Lower Burrell before taking Route 56 out to Leechburg. With the leaves in full array of fall colors, there were corridors along 56 where both sides of the road were lined with trees in an idyllic autumnal setting.
Heading into Leechburg, one crosses the Leechburg Bridge (originally built in 1935) to traverse the Kiskiminetas River and drop straight into the heart of town. The high school is located at the center of town with Veteran’s Memorial Field located near the top of the hill tucked into the residential neighborhood. “Veteran’s Memorial Field” lived up to its name as Leechburg did a number of veteran recognitions throughout the game, which was a very nice touch.
Riverview vs Leechburg
Last season, Leechburg snapped a 32-year playoff drought. Leechburg entered this season with a number of returning starters, including Pitt-commit Braylan Lovelace at running back. The Blue Devils entered this game with a 5-2 overall record, 3-1 in conference play, needing a win over Riverview (1-3 in conference play) to secure a playoff spot for the second straight season. Additionally, Lovelace had put up 982 yards through 7 games and needed 217 more to surpass the 4000-yard mark for his career.
Riverview has a new head coach in Trevor George this year who has installed a Wing-T offense that runs a triple-option. The Raiders went 3-and-out on their first possession and punted to Leechburg. It would be a long time before they saw the ball again. On the second play, Lovelace took it up the middle then cut outside and was GONE down the sideline for a 57-yard touchdown. Riverview would fumble the ensuing kickoff which Leechburg would recover and turn into another touchdown. This time it was Tyler Foley, on the receiving end of Leechburg’s first pass attempt, who sliced through Riverview’s defense for the score. Riverview committed a penalty on the extra point attempt, so Leechburg sent the offense back out and Lovelace pounded it in from the 1 for the 2-pointer to make it 15-0. On the ensuing kickoff, Leechburg caught Riverview napping with a surprise onside kick. The Blue Devils marched right back down the field, converting two fourth downs, before Lovelace scored again. Just eight and a half minutes into the game, Leechburg had three touchdowns and Riverview had run three offensive plays.
Riverview would start to get into a rhythm offensively but Leechburg stopped them around midfield. The Blue Devils would march it down the field again and Lovelace scored his third of the night, this time on a run over the right side that he spun through multiple tacklers on his way to the end zone. That touchdown gave Leechburg a commanding 29-0 lead with just under 10 minutes left in the half. From there, Riverview’s offense started to grind out first downs on the ground and bleed the clock. Riverview would eventually score just before halftime to cut the lead to 29-6.
The game was also Leechburg’s Homecoming and they had a very nice ceremony which featured two adorable toddlers carrying out the crown for the Homecoming Queen.
In the second half, Leechburg continued to pour it on. Jake Cummings scored on a two-yard run then it was the Braylan Lovelace show. Lovelace scored from 55 and 23 as he surpassed the 4000-yard mark for his career in front of a joyous home crowd. Lovelace would finish the night with 279 yards and 5 TDs, the top rusher in the WPIAL this week. That performance also vaulted him to third in the race for the WPIAL Rushing Title. In the end, Leechburg would tack on a kickoff return for a touchdown to run away with a 57-12 mercy rule victory.
Leechburg clinched a playoff spot for the second straight season after their 32-year drought. Now the Blue Devils will prepare for a showdown with Greensburg Central Catholic in two weeks with the Conference Title on the line. Leechburg lost a low-scoring defensive game to Clairton, but could force a 3-way tie with a win over GCC and claim a share of the title. Leechburg has not won a conference title since 1978 and with play-makers like Lovelace at running back, the explosive tandem of Tyler Foley and Logan Kline at receiver, and a sophomore QB in Jaden Floyd, the Blue Devils have the talent to make a deep run not only this year but to be contenders for years to come.
In conclusion, I also want to give a shout-out to the folks who were sitting around us at the game. They were very engaging to talk to and were very nice to my older kids who I brought with me. It was a beautiful drive up through Westmoreland County and across the bridge over the Kiski River. Leechburg as a town has a very nice downtown business district with historic buildings that are a throwback to the age when the town was built. October was the perfect time of year to visit Leechburg and even though the bleachers face towards the northeast, I was able to get a pretty good sunset shot off the back of the grandstand looking out over Leechburg and the Alle-Kiski Valley.
