Remembering the Youngstown City Series and Steel Valley Conference

[nupanther]

Imagine that you're playing football in the SVC and one day stepping into a time machine to find out that in the future you'll be getting your azzes handed to you regularly by North Lima.

I think that's the funniest thing when I look at Vindy archives. Reversal of fortunes one way or another for teams. Rivalries Long gone due to programs either going upwards or downwards. One of the best, if not THE best, running back in the Mahoning Valley in the early 80s from.... Southington

 

[coldshoulder]

I think that's the funniest thing when I look at Vindy archives. Reversal of fortunes one way or another for teams. Rivalries Long gone due to programs either going upwards or downwards. One of the best, if not THE best, running back in the Mahoning Valley in the early 80s from.... Southington

This RB you speak of...would be Rick Badanjek ... yes ?
He played four years at Maryland, then spent three seasons in the NFL.

 

[nupanther]

This RB you speak of...would be Rick Badanjek ... yes ?
He played four years at Maryland, then spent three seasons in the NFL.

Yes! I remember reading his ridiculous stats at Southington and we used to wonder ' How good is this guy really? ' Turns out pretty good

 

[Scipio]

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Former Chaney head coach Ron Berdis was officially inducted into the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Friday.

Berdis spent 20 years as the Cowboys head coach. He won 128 games, 14 City Series titles and qualified for the playoffs 8 times during that span.

He also helped guide Chaney to the Division II State Championship game in 1997.

Great coach and many Chaney fans didn’t appreciate him until he was gone.

 

[Worm02]

Delayed lights and locker room upgrades when they turned down Mike Tyson's money...

Southington’s first game with lights was in 2006 Week 1 vs. McDonald. I covered the game as a correspondent for the Tribune Chronicle. It was my first ever football game for them. I met John Vargo that night, who was there to do a story on them getting lights.

Without checking the score, Southington got hammered, but heir fans stayed the whole time just because they had lights. As a Harding fan, I always tell our fans how fortunate we are for things that we never think twice about.

 

[ysuindy]

I want to say the last time I saw a game at Baird Mitchell was in 1986 against Struthers, or was it 84? All the years are running together anymore. IIRC that may have been the last varsity game Poland played at Baird because I think Poland's current stadium opened a few weeks later in 1986 with a game against Campbell. I know they didn't have lights for several years after it opened though. I may be totally wrong about this but I seem to remember that the league basically forced them to install lights as some of the other league members were complaining about playing afternoon games there.

As always Ytown is correct. Poland moved to the new stadium at the high school in 1986. Last game at Baird Mitchell was against Struthers. Played at the new stadium a few weeks later against Campbell

And yes Homecoming games were played on Saturdays for several years.

Nothing like a Saturday at Baird Mitchell. Sitting on the railing watching the crowd come in

No one hated the Saturday afternoon games like West Branch did. Always thought that played a role in WB leaving the MVC

It was a home field advantage for Poland. Talk about getting football coaches out of routine!

I was president of the Booster Club when we worked with BFI to use tipping fees from the landfill to help finance the lights. That was quite the contentious period.

The loss to Howland in 1974 was 20-0

The 1975 loss was painful. 13-12 at Liberty on a cold, rainy Friday night.

1977 loss was 7-3 at West Branch. Canfield beat West Branch and Poland closed the season with a 31-6 win over Canfield to set up Tri-champs in the MVC

1978’s loss was to Brookfield’s state champs

pretty sure Canfield didn’t get lights for football until the mid 1970s?

You can find a lot of individual scores here. Rick does a great job with this site.

http://fourseasonsfootball.com/oh.html

 

[YTOWN]

Gentlemen,

This morning I saw the obituary for former Hubbard All-SVC gridder, Al Pitts. He played college ball at Mich. St. where he was named All-Big 10 and was drafted by the Browns. He was 68 years old. May he rest in peace.

 

[Impalaman]

Gentlemen,

This morning I saw the obituary for former Hubbard All-SVC gridder, Al Pitts. He played college ball at Mich. St. where he was named All-Big 10 and was drafted by the Browns. He was 68 years old. May he rest in peace.

Al must have played at Mich. St. with Larry Savage from Howland, who passed away in 2013 at age 55, and would be 67 if he was still alive. Looking back at Larry's obituary, it mentions that he was on a Big 10 championship team.

 

[YTOWN]

Al must have played at Mich. St. with Larry Savage from Howland, who passed away in 2013 at age 55, and would be 67 if he was still alive. Looking back at Larry's obituary, it mentions that he was on a Big 10 championship team.

They overlapped at Mich. St. but I believe Mr. Pitts was gone before the 1978 team shared the Big-10 title with Michigan. The Spartans beat Michigan head-to-head but the Wolverines had the better overall record and they went to the Rose Bowl. Melvin Land from Campbell was a captain on that 78 Spartan team and Jody McCulloh from Mooney was also on that team. Mr. Land passed many years ago. He was only around 40 or 41 when he died. Jody passed a few years ago too. I think he was 65. Ted Bell & Bob Sammartino from Mooney also went to Mich. St. in that era but were gone by then.

 

[Scipio]

Larry Savage was not only a great player but had the best last name for a LB ever. I didn’t know he passed. Way too young. What was the other great Howland LB's in the 70’s…Savage, Hocevar and the other is escaping me at the moment.

Edit: I just remembered, Jack Lazor.

 

[Impalaman]

In the mid to late 70's an article in the Plain Dealer made national news just prior to the OSU-MSU game. The article quoted a MSU player telling about being told by Woody Hayes that he shouldn't go to Michigan State because they were going to be going on probation, leading to speculation that Woody had turned in the Spartans. The player quoted by the PD was Larry Savage. MSU knocked off the No. 1 Buckeyes, in a game with a controversial ending concerning the goal line and the clock.
Approximately 20 years later the Spartans shocked the Buckeyes again, This time with former Howland QB Bill Burke throwing jump balls to Plexico Burress.

 

[YTOWN]

Larry Savage was not only a great player but had the best last name for a LB ever. I didn’t know he passed. Way too young. What was the other great Howland LB's in the 70’s…Savage, Hocevar and the other is escaping me at the moment.

Edit: I just remembered, Jack Lazor.

Another local guy with a pretty good LB last name, not so much his first name, is Ashley Sledge, All-City LB from Rayen. He went to S. Illinois and was one of those City Series guys that helped the Salukis win their 1983 D1-AA National Championship.

I don't know if Mr. Lazor is still Kent State's all-time leading tackler but he was still #1 the last time I looked, which was a few years ago. He was a 3-time All-MAC selection at LB for the Flashes and a member of their HOF.

 

[Impalaman]

I remember when Larry Savage picked up a fumble near the 10 yard line. When the opponents tried to tackle him, they bounced off him like a pinball game.

 

[nupanther]

Totally off topic, but has anybody paid attention to the recent WKBN football previews? Recently they've had write ups on Milton and Athens.......Pennsylvania. I had to look up where those 2 places were located. They're about 5 hrs away. How in the world did those schools pop up on our radar?

 

[StoneEagle]

Late to the party and don't know if anyone has already posted this or even if this is the correct thread. Too lazy to check. haha

Hubbard professional football players:

Al Campana (Chicago Bears and Chicago Cardinals)
Kurtis Drummond (Houston Texans and San Antonio Commanders)
Anthony Smith (Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers among others)
LJ Scott (Cleveland Browns}*

* I guess this counts. Tryout with Seattle Seahawks in 2020. 'Good vision, quick decision-making'.

As always, football season cannot come soon enough!

 

[CoachJB]

This thread has been a wonderful trip down Memory Lane over the past year. Thanks to all the posters who shared their thoughts and memories. I have to say, however, that I am a little disappointed that the annual SVC memories stopped after the 1989 season. Because to me the SVC's finest hour on the grid iron came during the 1990 season.

To be clear, I'm not saying the 1990 season had the most talented players ever (actually, far from it). And I'm not sure if any of the teams were the greatest ever. But from top to bottom, the conference was never stronger. It's crazy to think but the mid 1980s to the early 1990s the SVC was considered the strongest football conference in the state and maybe the country too.

In the fall of 1989 the new Warren consolidated high school (which became Warren Harding) was accepted into the SVC for all sports, starting in the 1991-92 season. So the Raiders weren't technically eligible for the 1990 SVC crown. In fact they only played Fitch during the regular season. However I considered them an SVC team so I am including them in the stats below. On a side note, I think the 1990 season was one of the best seasons in Mahoning Valley history.

Mooney, Ursuline, Boardman, Fitch, and Harding combined for a record of 49-12 overall in 1990 which is unreal. During the regular season it was 42-8. However if you take away the games against each other the numbers become unbelievable. The five schools went a combined 35-1 against non-SVC schools during the regular season. And the one loss was by three points in OT. The schools were undefeated in regulation!

When they matched up with each other they produced some absolute classics: Boardman beat Mooney in an OT thriller by 1, Mooney beat Fitch in an OT thriller by 1, Fitch gave WGH one of it's toughest games of the season before losing by 6, and Boardman beat Ursuline on a last second FG. The one outlier happened in Week 10 when Fitch needed a miracle to make the playoffs: they spoiled Boardman's bid for it's first perfect 10-0 regular season by pounding BHS 38-0 in Spartan Stadium.

That result catapulted the Falcons into the playoffs. In fact all five teams made it which was unheard of at the time. This was back when there were still only five divisions and only 4 schools in each region made it. Boardman/WGH/Fitch all qualified in Region 1 along with St. Ignatius. Mooney's point total in Div. III would have qualified them in any region in any division. And Ursuline, despite going winless in conference play, still made it comfortably in. The schools ended up knocking each other out of the playoffs: Harding eliminated Boardman and Fitch and Mooney beat Ursuline in a Week 11 rematch. Harding of course ended up winning the Div. I title and Mooney was eliminated in the Div. III State Semi's by Richfield Revere (the only loss to a non-SVC team in regulation all year). While Fitch didn't make it out of the region they had the most impressive win that year IMO: they upset two-time defending state champions, St. Ignatius, in the Regional Semi-Final, ending the Wildcats' 39 game winning streak. It was St. Ignatius' only playoff loss from 1988-1995.

Lastly, while their record was gaudy, the teams these five schools beat during the 1990 season was a who's who of Ohio High School football. Their victims included: Lima Senior (1989 Div I State Semi-Finalist), Canton McKinley (x3; gave the Bulldogs 3 of their 4 losses that year), Lakewood St. Edward (x2), Steubenville (gave the Big Red their only regular season loss), Mentor, Massillon, Akron Buchtel, Toledo St. John (gave them their only regular season loss), Toledo St. Francis, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, Sandusky (gave Orlando Pace's team their only loss), Cin. Princeton (in the Div I title game), Mentor Lake Catholic (gave the Div. III AP Poll champs their only loss of the year), and St. Ignatius (see above).

I think it's safe to say we will never see a conference in the Mahoning Valley have a season like the SVC's 1990 one.

 

[golden dawn]

This thread has been a wonderful trip down Memory Lane over the past year. Thanks to all the posters who shared their thoughts and memories. I have to say, however, that I am a little disappointed that the annual SVC memories stopped after the 1989 season. Because to me the SVC's finest hour on the grid iron came during the 1990 season.

To be clear, I'm not saying the 1990 season had the most talented players ever (actually, far from it). And I'm not sure if any of the teams were the greatest ever. But from top to bottom, the conference was never stronger. It's crazy to think but the mid 1980s to the early 1990s the SVC was considered the strongest football conference in the state and maybe the country too.

In the fall of 1989 the new Warren consolidated high school (which became Warren Harding) was accepted into the SVC for all sports, starting in the 1991-92 season. So the Raiders weren't technically eligible for the 1990 SVC crown. In fact they only played Fitch during the regular season. However I considered them an SVC team so I am including them in the stats below. On a side note, I think the 1990 season was one of the best seasons in Mahoning Valley history.

Mooney, Ursuline, Boardman, Fitch, and Harding combined for a record of 49-12 overall in 1990 which is unreal. During the regular season it was 42-8. However if you take away the games against each other the numbers become unbelievable. The five schools went a combined 35-1 against non-SVC schools during the regular season. And the one loss was by three points in OT. The schools were undefeated in regulation!

When they matched up with each other they produced some absolute classics: Boardman beat Mooney in an OT thriller by 1, Mooney beat Fitch in an OT thriller by 1, Fitch gave WGH one of it's toughest games of the season before losing by 6, and Boardman beat Ursuline on a last second FG. The one outlier happened in Week 10 when Fitch needed a miracle to make the playoffs: they spoiled Boardman's bid for it's first perfect 10-0 regular season by pounding BHS 38-0 in Spartan Stadium.

That result catapulted the Falcons into the playoffs. In fact all five teams made it which was unheard of at the time. This was back when there were still only five divisions and only 4 schools in each region made it. Boardman/WGH/Fitch all qualified in Region 1 along with St. Ignatius. Mooney's point total in Div. III would have qualified them in any region in any division. And Ursuline, despite going winless in conference play, still made it comfortably in. The schools ended up knocking each other out of the playoffs: Harding eliminated Boardman and Fitch and Mooney beat Ursuline in a Week 11 rematch. Harding of course ended up winning the Div. I title and Mooney was eliminated in the Div. III State Semi's by Richfield Revere (the only loss to a non-SVC team in regulation all year). While Fitch didn't make it out of the region they had the most impressive win that year IMO: they upset two-time defending state champions, St. Ignatius, in the Regional Semi-Final, ending the Wildcats' 39 game winning streak. It was St. Ignatius' only playoff loss from 1988-1995.

Lastly, while their record was gaudy, the teams these five schools beat during the 1990 season was a who's who of Ohio High School football. Their victims included: Lima Senior (1989 Div I State Semi-Finalist), Canton McKinley (x3; gave the Bulldogs 3 of their 4 losses that year), Lakewood St. Edward (x2), Steubenville (gave the Big Red their only regular season loss), Mentor, Massillon, Akron Buchtel, Toledo St. John (gave them their only regular season loss), Toledo St. Francis, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, Sandusky (gave Orlando Pace's team their only loss), Cin. Princeton (in the Div I title game), Mentor Lake Catholic (gave the Div. III AP Poll champs their only loss of the year), and St. Ignatius (see above).

I think it's safe to say we will never see a conference in the Mahoning Valley have a season like the SVC's 1990 one.

Thanks for the walk down memory lane. The 1990 SVC season is seared into my memory. Those back-to-back losses to Mooney in the regular season at YSU and then the next week at Campbell in the play-offs was devastating for the North Side. To this day, every time the Irish score on the birds (which thankfully is now a regular occurrence) feels like payback for that terrible 8 day stretch at the start of the 90's.

 

[nupanther]

This thread has been a wonderful trip down Memory Lane over the past year. Thanks to all the posters who shared their thoughts and memories. I have to say, however, that I am a little disappointed that the annual SVC memories stopped after the 1989 season. Because to me the SVC's finest hour on the grid iron came during the 1990 season.

To be clear, I'm not saying the 1990 season had the most talented players ever (actually, far from it). And I'm not sure if any of the teams were the greatest ever. But from top to bottom, the conference was never stronger. It's crazy to think but the mid 1980s to the early 1990s the SVC was considered the strongest football conference in the state and maybe the country too.

In the fall of 1989 the new Warren consolidated high school (which became Warren Harding) was accepted into the SVC for all sports, starting in the 1991-92 season. So the Raiders weren't technically eligible for the 1990 SVC crown. In fact they only played Fitch during the regular season. However I considered them an SVC team so I am including them in the stats below. On a side note, I think the 1990 season was one of the best seasons in Mahoning Valley history.

Mooney, Ursuline, Boardman, Fitch, and Harding combined for a record of 49-12 overall in 1990 which is unreal. During the regular season it was 42-8. However if you take away the games against each other the numbers become unbelievable. The five schools went a combined 35-1 against non-SVC schools during the regular season. And the one loss was by three points in OT. The schools were undefeated in regulation!

When they matched up with each other they produced some absolute classics: Boardman beat Mooney in an OT thriller by 1, Mooney beat Fitch in an OT thriller by 1, Fitch gave WGH one of it's toughest games of the season before losing by 6, and Boardman beat Ursuline on a last second FG. The one outlier happened in Week 10 when Fitch needed a miracle to make the playoffs: they spoiled Boardman's bid for it's first perfect 10-0 regular season by pounding BHS 38-0 in Spartan Stadium.

That result catapulted the Falcons into the playoffs. In fact all five teams made it which was unheard of at the time. This was back when there were still only five divisions and only 4 schools in each region made it. Boardman/WGH/Fitch all qualified in Region 1 along with St. Ignatius. Mooney's point total in Div. III would have qualified them in any region in any division. And Ursuline, despite going winless in conference play, still made it comfortably in. The schools ended up knocking each other out of the playoffs: Harding eliminated Boardman and Fitch and Mooney beat Ursuline in a Week 11 rematch. Harding of course ended up winning the Div. I title and Mooney was eliminated in the Div. III State Semi's by Richfield Revere (the only loss to a non-SVC team in regulation all year). While Fitch didn't make it out of the region they had the most impressive win that year IMO: they upset two-time defending state champions, St. Ignatius, in the Regional Semi-Final, ending the Wildcats' 39 game winning streak. It was St. Ignatius' only playoff loss from 1988-1995.

Lastly, while their record was gaudy, the teams these five schools beat during the 1990 season was a who's who of Ohio High School football. Their victims included: Lima Senior (1989 Div I State Semi-Finalist), Canton McKinley (x3; gave the Bulldogs 3 of their 4 losses that year), Lakewood St. Edward (x2), Steubenville (gave the Big Red their only regular season loss), Mentor, Massillon, Akron Buchtel, Toledo St. John (gave them their only regular season loss), Toledo St. Francis, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, Sandusky (gave Orlando Pace's team their only loss), Cin. Princeton (in the Div I title game), Mentor Lake Catholic (gave the Div. III AP Poll champs their only loss of the year), and St. Ignatius (see above).

I think it's safe to say we will never see a conference in the Mahoning Valley have a season like the SVC's 1990 one.

Great post!. After the SVC went to the " Big 5" ( when those teams just became too strong for those other teams that were in it in the 70s and 80s)- the league went from a very good league to an elite league.
Unfortunately, since Im a City Srries guy, THAT league simultaneously went the other direction. With the exception of 97, nobody gave Chaney too much of a battle. Outside of Chaney the other teams were just either tune ups or homecoming opponents. Oh, there were some victories hear and there ( I remember East beating Boardman by a couple of scores either 91 or 92)- but for the most part the city was non competitive sans Chaney. It didnt help by having noon start time Saturday doubleheaders at YSU. Also, even though I understood the move, having Timken in the CS wasnt a good move