Portage/FH

[WPIAL~Titan]

Great job on this post FH and Portage fans! I enjoyed reading the responses.

Now, here's another challenge:

How about results from all of the Penn Cambria/Portage matchups through 1967 (when PC began) through the last year they played, which I believe was 1987 or 1988.

[underdog1]

How about results from all of the Penn Cambria/Portage matchups through 1967 (when PC began) through the last year they played, which I believe was 1987 or 1988.

Samething I said! My dad, a PC alum, has told me some good storied of that rivalry.

[knightrider]

FH and Portage used to scrimmage before the season after they quit playing in regular season and before teams started scrimmaging other LH teams. I remember Portage always having big time rushers, and FH always limiting them to ridiculous lows. Burkett, Sekrisky rushing for crazy numbers and getting dominated by FH. Run for 25 yards on 25 carries against FH and then rush for 225 the opening week against Shade. The conference is a huge difference. I think FH would have dominated them bad since 88 if the two kept playing. It would make for a HUGE crowd and possibly even some crowd fights. ha Its basically the tale of two conferences being on a completely different levels~

[Portage Alum]

Knight,

What scrimmages were you watching? I was at all of those pre-season battles between the Mustangs and the Rangers and they were always very competitive. Portage scored their share and yes, Forest Hills scored a few bit more. However, lets put this into perspective...Forest Hills graduates nearly three times the number of kids than Portage does. So, the Mustangs always felt pretty good after playing the Rangers tough in the pre-season, they knew how well they would do in the regular season against schools their size. And Portage's success over the last 15 or so years supports this.

~PA

[El-Moldo]

I wouldn't put alot of stock in scoring against FH in a scrimmage, particularly the first scrimmage of the year. I'm not sure how football camp goes in other school districts, put FH hardly does anything on defense the first 5 days of practice. Since offense requires MORE practice to get your team in order for the season than defense does, FH spends about 85% of their first week on offense. In fact, FH probably only goes over defense a little on Friday before that first Saturday. There is NO defensive game plan before that 1st scrimmage. It's just a "vanilla" defense to get by with. Offense gets the 1st priority in practice, and later the defense kicks in. And I would really like to debate the "size" thing between FH and Portage. I will guarantee you that Portage has MORE kids on their roster than FH each and every year. Just because FH has a bigger overall attendance doesn't mean that FH gets more kids out for football. So the "size" difference doesn't hold much water as far as a scrimmage goes.

[WPIAL~Titan]

Scrimmage, shrimmage...I want all PC/Penn Cambria results from the PC jointure in 1966 through when the 2 teams stopped playing around 1990. Does anyone have the results?

[Red and Black]

From 1948 to 1965, Portage Joint/Portage Area played Cresson every season. Portage also occasionally played Gallitzin and Lilly during these year. In 1966, Cresson, Gallitzin, and Lilly combined to form Penn Cambria.

1966 tie 12-12
1967 no game
1968 Penn Cambria 42-7
1969 Portage 18-6
1970 Penn Cambria 34-19
1971 Penn Cambria 33-0
1972 Penn Cambria 14-0
1973 Portage 14-6
1974 no game
1975 Portage 22-13
1976 Portage 1-0 (Penn Cambria teachers' strike)
1977 Portage 21-3
1978 Portage 14-2
1979 Portage 35-6
1980 Portage 19-13
1981 Portage 39-0
1982 Portage 22-0
1983 Penn Cambria 23-6
1984 Portage 44-0
1985 Penn Cambria 10-7
1986 Penn Cambria 20-19
1987 Portage 27-0
1988 Penn Cambria 12-7
Series: Portage 12 wins, Penn Cambria 8 wins, one tie

Both Portage and Penn Cambria were members of the Mountain Conference for all of these seasons (1966 - 1988.) The series ended when Portage rejoined the Appalachian Conference for 1989 (and Penn Cambria helped found the LHAC.)

[WPIAL~Titan]

Good stuff! Where did you find it red and Black?? Old yearbooks?

I remember the 1980 game that Portage "won" 19-13 up in Cresson...

PC led 13-12 with under 1:00 left to play and Portage had a 4th and long from midfield with 0 time outs remaining. Portage QB Bernie Gorba threw a pass downfield that bounced 2 full yards in front of the receiver and the ball even kicked up some mud and water when it bounced. The receiver short hopped the ball and came up holding it in the air. The officials (at least one who I know was from Portage with the initials MB) ran in from behind the play, signaling completed pass like it was the last friggin play of the Super Bowl. Despite protests, the pass was ruled complete for a 1st down and Portage went on to win the game by scoring a TD a few plays after that call with something like :10 left on the clock.

Portage had a very good team that season, and I believe they finished unbeaten, something like 8-0-2.

This all reminds me of a catch a few years later in 1982 from PSU's Mike McCloskey with Official Uncle Guman running in from behind calling a catch like a madman...Watch this clip:



Here's another angle:


Both ridiculously poor calls handed each team a title (PSU won the national title that year and Portage won the '80 Mountain Conference title.)

I know PC head coach Phil McGivney invited the chief supervisor of the D6 officials to view the tape the following morning. When viewing the video, you could see the ball bounce and kick up water, plain as day.

[cleaverstuart]

The last game played was in 1988 due to Portage rejoining the Appalachian Conference. Most people don’t know Portage was a charter member but dropped out when the old A.C. increased the minimum number of games played to six but decreased to 5 just two seasons later with division play.

[El-Moldo]

Hey! Don't let this thread die. How about records of games between the Kishacoquillas Indians and the Chief Logan Mingoes??