For those of you that have followed our WPIAL coverage on Steel City Blitz for a while, you’ll recall my project of attempting to visit every high school football stadium in Western Pennsylvania. This is a first-person account of my family visiting different towns and stadiums throughout the region and the things we learned about the areas. After not being able to make it to any games last year, the Tour of the WPIAL got back on the road this year. The South Park visit was our 11th trip. You can check out the summaries of our previous visits to Rochester, Southmoreland, West Greene, Sto-Rox, Laurel, Belle Vernon, Seneca Valley, Dormont Stadium (to see both Keystone Oaks and Bishop Canevin), and Laurel Highlands. We also visited Mapletown in 2022 but I never got around to writing a summary of that visit. The 2024 iteration of the Tour of the WPIAL kicks off with South Park!
South Park
Nickname: Eagles
WPIAL Championships: 3 (1955, 1997, 2005)
PIAA Championships: 2 (1997, 2005)
Municipalities: South Park Township
Town History
In the time after the Revolutionary War, southern Allegheny County consisted mostly of farmlands. The rural farmers distilled whiskey from the surplus rye and grains they grew in their fields. One of the first families to settle in the area were the Millers who came shortly after the lands were opened for settlement in 1769. Oliver Miller, whose historic homestead can still be found within South Park, died in 1782 and the farm passed to his son James Miller. James’ brother William Miller would become a central figure in the Whiskey Rebellion.
In 1790, the US Congress approved Alexander Hamilton’s measure to consolidate state and national debt following the revolutionary war. The following year, Congress (at Hamilton’s urging) approved an excise tax on domestically distilled spirits. The “Whiskey Act” of 1791 charged rural farmers proportionally more than larger distillers, basing the tax on the size of the distilling pot. The tax was excessive for the poor rural farmers and many flat out refused to pay, prompting the federal government to raise a militia to send to Western Pennsylvania.
William Miller’s home was located on the current site of South Park Golf Course. In 1794, Tax Collector John Neville and US Marshall David Lennox went to William Miller’s home to charge him with non-compliance with the Whiskey Act for failure to pay for his still. A shot was fired during the confrontation, giving South Park the designation of the locale of the first shot of the Whiskey Rebellion. William Miller, as head of the local militia, raised 500 men who attacked Neville’s home at Bower Hill. After a few days of skirmishes, Neville’s house was burned down by the rebellion militia. Further events of the Whiskey Rebellion transpired between Fayette County, Washington County, and other areas of southwestern Pennsylvania. The Oliver Miller Homestead is open for tours and does an annual historical reenactment of the first shots of the Whiskey Rebellion. The current stone structure was built in 1830, replacing the original log house on the property.
As a municipality, South Park was originally founded as “Snowden Township” in 1845. The township was named for former Pittsburgh mayor and judge John Snowden who had recently died. Snowden was originally a farming and mining community. In the 1930s, Allegheny County constructed a large county park in Snowden Township on former farmland. The park was used as county fairgrounds until the fair was discontinued in 1971. In 1966, due to the popularity of the county park and the area around it colloquially being known as “South Park,” the community held a referendum and voted to formally change the name of the Township from “Snowden” to “South Park.”
Football History
Education in Snowden Township began with one-room school houses, the oldest of which was built in the 1920s. Initially, three schoolhouses served the area – the Stewart School (built in 1920), the Broughton School (built in 1929) and the Library School (built in 1934). Snowden started playing football in 1936 and joined the WPIAL the following year. In 1938, South Park went undefeated and untied with an 8-0-0 record.
Snowden defeated Neville in the 1955 WPIAL Class B (later Class A) Championship 32-13. Neville Township (also “Neville Island”) was in fact named for the same John Neville who was involved in the Whiskey Rebellion. In a bit of historical irony, Snowden’s first championship came over the school/township named for the tax collector who attempted to charge William Miller with a writ of non-compliance.
Snowden Township High School consolidated secondary education and opened in 1958. With the referendum to change the name of the municipality in the 1960s, the school district followed suit, becoming known as South Park School District. Snowden and South Park played an independent schedule until formally joining the Class A Black Hills conference in 1970. The Black Hills conference in the 1970s included the likes of Carlynton, Peters Twp, Fort Cherry, Quaker Valley, Burgettstown, West Allegheny, and McGuffey. In 1981, South Park finished in a 4-way tie atop the AA Three Rivers Conference with Brentwood, Northgate, and Seton LaSalle. All four teams finished 7-2 in conference play. Brentwood and South Park would make the playoffs, the first postseason appearance for the Eagles since their 1955 title. The Eagles won outright conference titles in 1990, 1991, 1997, and 2005.
In the decade around the turn of the century, South Park would reach the pinnacle of Pennsylvania football twice. In 1997, South Park went unbeaten in the Century Conference and earned a first round bye in the playoffs. The Eagles got one-score victories over Laurel (12-6) and Center (14-7) to set up a showdown with fellow top seed Shady Side Academy in the title game. South Park’s defense once again showed up in a big way while their offense exploded to the tune of a 38-6 romp to claim their second WPIAL title. In the state playoffs, South Park blew past D10 Champions Wilmington 33-7 in the semis and topped undefeated South Williamsport 20-0 in the State Championship. Current head coach Brian Abbey was a member of the 1997 WPIAL and State Championship team.
South Park School District finished construction of a new high school building in 2005 and celebrated it with another run to statewide glory. After an undefeated regular season, South Park was the top-seeded team in the AA playoffs. The Eagles dominated the first three rounds with a 42-8 win over Laurel, a 41-7 win over Tri-County North Champs Mohawk, and a 31-0 shutout of Allegheny co-Champ Ford City in the semifinals. The WPIAL Championship was a battle of unbeatens as South Park faced off with Greensburg Central Catholic. In one of the greatest WPIAL title games of all time, the first half was played to a 14-all tie. South Park held on to a 24-20 lead as GCC drove into scoring territory late in the game but Michigan State-recruit Connor Dixon came up with a game-sealing interception on the final play. South Park went on to thump District 6 Champ Forest Hills 63-22 and District 10 Champ Reynolds 28-2 in the State semis. In the State Championship, the Eagles fell behind Wilson Area 14-0 and trailed 17-7 at halftime. In the second half, South Park converted two turnovers into touchdown drives to take a 21-17 lead. Dixon scored on a short touchdown run with a minute and a half to play to put it away, the seal another championship for the Eagles with an interception as time expired. Current South Park Head Coach Brian Abbey was an assistant on the staff of the 2005 team.
Following that state championship run, South Park missed the playoffs the next seven years. When the State moved to six classifications in 2016, South Park landed in 3A where they made the playoffs in 6 of 8 seasons, including a run to the semifinals in 2019. Last year, they upset Knoch in the opening round of the playoffs and narrowly lost to Allegheny Conference Champions East Allegheny in the quarterfinals. This year, they moved down from 3A to 2A and are among the favorites in the Allegheny Conference.
Our Visit
After the last two Friday nights were marred with passing thunderstorms causing the cancellation of a number of WPIAL games, we finally got a clear evening. We took the opportunity to go see South Park take on Steel Valley in a battle of teams expected to contend for the Allegheny Conference title. Steel Valley returned 2A’s leading rusher Donald Barksdale while South Park boasted two D1 recruits on the line in James Madison-commit Parker Cunningham and Troy Cunningham (who has offers from a number of Ivy League schools). Additionally, South Park’s star running back Eric Doerue has a Bowling Green offer. The Eagles also have impressive playmakers in dual-threat QB Robert Lenzi and speedy slot back/safety Kenyan Brown.
The first impression of Eagle Stadium was a good one. The stadium was renovated in 2017 and is a great setting for football. The field is set with all of the stands on one side to work with the topography of the hillside, giving the fans a view out over tree-topped hills and the setting sun which would be quite picturesque in the fall. According to others, before the trees grew to their current height you could see parts of the County Park from the stadium.
The game itself started slow with the teams trading 3-and-outs. South Park found some momentum when they moved to a wildcat offense with Eric Doerue. South Park drove inside the 5 yard line but went backwards two plays in a row. The Eagles were stopped on a 4th and 6 from the 9 at the end of the first quarter. Steel Valley was able to pick up a few first downs with the Barksdale brothers and get out to the 40, but a penalty set them back and ended their drive. On South Park’s following drive they got across midfield but wound up punting with a minute and a half left. Steel Valley was out of timeouts and couldn’t get past midfield as the half ended in a scoreless tie.
Steel Valley had a surprisingly small band (on a personal note, my high school band used to compete against them and I remember them having a much larger marching band). South Park’s band put on a good show of country songs, complete with cowboy hats to top off the band’s on-field look. One of my best friends in high school played the baritone sax, an uncommon instrument in marching band, so it was noteworthy to see both bands have a marching bari sax.
South Park would pick up where they left off in the third quarter with Doerue pounding the ball up the gut from the wildcat. The Eagles would once again get into the red zone but came up short on 4th and 3 from the 15. After South Park’s 9-minute drive, Steel Valley tried to put something together but South Park’s defense would stand tall again once the Ironmen got to the 40. Steel Valley started the 4th quarter with a 49-yard punt to pin South Park deep in their own territory.
With the score still tied 0-0, South Park put together a drive for the ages. After grinding their way to midfield, South Park got the Ironmen to jump offsides on 3rd and 4 to keep the drive alive. The Eagles drove down to the 15 but were called for a holding penalty. Doerue took over and got South Park back to 4th and 2 in the red zone. South Park once again went to a hard count and got the Ironmen to jump offsides for their second first down via penalty on the drive. Facing first and goal from the 3, Doerue got two cracks but couldn’t break the plane. On third down, Lenzi got a tush push across the goal line to score the game’s only touchdown on a QB sneak. South Park took a 7-0 lead with just 57 seconds remaining. Steel Valley got one first down but was forced to call their final timeout with 8 seconds left at midfield. Kenyan Brown stepped up with a game-sealing interception.
South Park had an impressive defensive performance, led by the Cunningham’s in the trenches. The Eagles defense swarmed to the ball all night and never gave the Barksdales room to operate. Steel Valley never got the ball into South Park territory or mounted a real threat to put any points on the board. South Park’s running game kept Steel Valley’s defense on the field for long periods of tie, putting together a 9-minute and 11-minute drive in the second half. Overall, we had a great trip to watch a very strong team that should be able to go a long way this season.
