From the 1980s all the way through the early 2000s it was a local tradition for York-Adams League senior football standouts to participate in the annual Senior Bowl after the season concluded. It provided the best area talent to get one last taste of the game at the high school level right around Thanksgiving.
Various iterations of the gridiron contest included intraleague battles before turning into the War of the Roses matches that pitted the YAIAA against the Lancaster-Lebanon League. After the final Roses game in 2005, though, the tradition appeared to be dead.
While whispers of bringing it back were heard here and there, the idea was just that — an idea. Until recently.
After years of coaches talking about it, the York-Adams Football Coaches Association has turned the chatter into reality, as the next chapter of the Senior Bowl is set for kickoff this Sunday, Dec. 1, at 1 p.m. at York Suburban High School.
No one is happier about this revival than Kennard-Dale head coach Chris Grube.
“This is my ninth year as head coach, And we’ve been trying to bring it back,” said Grube, who is the president of the YAFCA. “Years ago I reached out and I actually tried to have a YAIAA game against North Harford down in Maryland, but we couldn’t make that work. So we were slowly trying to get it back, but then COVID hit and that all stopped. Everyone was obviously focused on their kids and their programs and just trying to play games, and we also weren’t sure about what kind of financial capabilities our sponsors would have.”
Fortunately for the YAFCA, a number of sponsors were able to provide the much-needed financial and logistical support to make this year’s event finally happen. Officials, police and EMTs also had to volunteer their services.
“Our big sponsors are Riddell, WellSpan and State Farm agent Vincent Cerceo,” Grube said. “They’ve all stepped up in a big way. 2 the Tee outfitters and several others have been great as well. Vince is one of our big gameday sponsors, which is big boost. All of our sponsors have been fantastic. Just to run this game costs about $2,000 and that includes the liability insurance and things like that.”
North vs. South: While a rivalry game against a nearby league could still happen down the road, the format for Sunday’s contest will be a North versus South clash of Y-A schools. The North team will include coaches from York Suburban and Bermudian Springs and players from Biglerville, Central York, Dover, Eastern York, New Oxford, Northeastern, Spring Grove and Suburban. The South squad is set to be coached by the staffs of Dallastown and Susquehannock with players from those schools, Hanover, Kennard-Dale, Red Lion, South Western, West York, York Catholic and York High.
Due to PIAA rules, players from Delone Catholic and Bermudian Springs — both of whom played last weekend in the PIAA quarterfinals — are prohibited from participating. Despite that, the seniors for both programs will nonetheless be recognized at the game.
“From a safety standpoint, we would have had to have a certain number of practices in for their kids to be eligible,” Grube said of the Bermudian and Delone seniors. “And besides that, we didn’t want to just throw kids out there that might not know where they’re going and then someone gets hurt.”
The return of the Senior Bowl will be a particular benefit for the growing list of seniors that enroll early in collegiate programs. A player like Dallastown’s Michael Scott — who will enroll early at James Madison after previously committing to Arizona State — wouldn’t have been eligible to play in either the East-West game or the Big 33 Classic, as those contests take place in April.
“I’m from Schuylkill County and they always played their game on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving or sometimes even on Thanksgiving. And that’s one of my big things,” Grube said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that Scott wouldn’t get the opportunity to play in the East-West or Big 33. It was the same way a few years ago with Jahiem White and Beau (Pribula). Those guys didn’t get an opportunity because they were enrolled in January. So this is a chance to give these guys one more game to just ball out, and I think it’s an awesome opportunity for them.”
Full circle: The game holds a special place in Susquehannock coach Joe Sorice’s heart. Sorice was a senior at Delone Catholic during the 2004 season and would have played in the War of the Roses had things played out a little differently.
“I made it as an alternate,” said Sorice, who is one of the coaches for the South team. “This was the year that Littlestown made it to the (PIAA Class 2A) semis and if Littlestown would have won, I would have got in. But Littlestown ended up losing, so their senior running back got in over me.”
Sorice’s story is one that Grube and the fellow Y-A coaches didn’t want to see happen again. In an interleague format, roster sizes would have been more limited, leaving the possibility for a handful or more deserving seniors to be left out.
“The coaches all agreed that it just made more sense to stay in-house,” Sorice said. “That way, more of our kids could get some exposure, especially the ones that are trying to play at the next level.”
One of the players Sorice was most excited to see participating Sunday — his senior quarterback, Josh Pecunes — unfortunately will not be on the field. Pecunes, who suffered a torn labrum during his junior season, incurred another shoulder injury midway through this year. Despite toughing it out in different roles at running back and wideout, the Warriors’ all-star standout will not be able to play.
“Josh told me last week that he has to get surgery again,” Sorice said. “He banged up his non-throwing shoulder in the game against Dover and we really limited him in practice. Towards the end of the season, he just told me that he couldn’t throw the ball. We did our best to use him as a decoy, but Josh is still one of the best athletes on the field, so we had to get him the ball. Props to that kid … he toughed it out the best that he could.”
Pecunes was hoping to secure an offer at the next level before his latest injury.
“I know that he wanted to play in college,” Sorice said. “He was hoping to get some offers but now all of that is back up in the air. I know that Millersville was high up on his board and I think they were high on him as well. So we’ll see.”
YAFCA SENIOR BOWL ROSTERS
Sunday, Dec. 1, 1 p.m. at York Suburban High School
NORTH TEAM (coaches from York Suburban, Bermudian Springs)
QB: Bo Forney, Biglerville; Houston Morder, Northeastern
WR: Ryley Dufault, Northeastern; Quez Robinson, Eastern York; Nasir Ruppert, Central York; Ryan Vargas, New Oxford; Tavian McAuliffe, Biglerville
OL: Gavin Corwell, Eastern York; Matthew McKinley, Central York; Brody Wright, Central York; Trent Hammel, Central York; Hunter Matthews, Dover
DL: Brody Conrad, Biglerville; Reese Husson, Dover; Bryce Yohe, Spring Grove; Steven Bonilla, Eastern York
LB: Tyler Frey, Central York; Carter Smith, Spring Grove; Carter Houck, New Oxford; Noah Fulton, Biglerville; Brayden Harris, Spring Grove; Micah Bowers, Central York; Hunter Childs, York Tech
CB: Everett Heim, York Suburban; Draven Becknauld, Eastern York
S: Alex Ballan, York Suburban
P: Holden Gobrecht, Spring Grove
SOUTH TEAM (coaches from Dallastown, Susquehannock)
QB: Bryce Graham, South Western; Mason Hollingshead, Red Lion
RB: Austin Rollman, South Western; Isaac Roberts, West York
WR: Joe Fuller, Susquehannock; David Warde, York High; Trey Wisniewski, York Catholic; Jalen Cook, Dallastown
TE: Jack Mahoney, Dallastown
OL: Aidyn Garner, Dallastown; Allan Jones, Susquehannock; Joseph Stout, Kennard-Dale; Joey Bryant, Red Lion; Eliott Piatt, South Western; Mason Currey, South Western
DL: Ky Calixte, York High; Dawson Zohrbaugh, Susquehannock; Colby Laughman, Dallastown; Isaac Wagner, South Western; Ethan Rissler, South Western; Trent Wagner, Hanover
LB: Chris Sterling, York Catholic; Jayden Welch, West York; Jack Lawrence, York Catholic; Andre Wiest, Dallastown; Jack McShane, Kennard-Dale
CB: Zyaire selby, Red Lion; Yrayra Kasili, Hanover; Wykeen Martin, West York
S: David Smith, Kennard-Dale; Wa’Nieq Scott, York High
K: Michael Scott, Dallastown
