Jehuu Caulcrick made a point of letting his team know the significance of this year’s Big 30 All-Star Charities Classic after its first practice:
It’s been four years since New York has beaten Pennsylvania in the football game pitting graduated seniors.
“They have bragging rights,” the Empire State coach from Southwestern told his players July 22.
New York’s all-time bragging rights are as slim as ever heading into Game 46. Tonight at Parkway Field (7 o’clock, 107.5 FM, 100.1 FM, 1490 AM), Pennsylvania can tie the series for the first time.
New York’s lead is 22-21-2.
“It’s definitely good motivation for the players,” Caulcrick said of the recent Pennsy success. “It’s definitely important to showcase that New York state has good football and talented kids. It’s definitely a sense of pride, playing for your state.”
Pennsylvania coach Jeff Puglio of Bradford doesn’t believe his squad feels any extra pressure to keep the streak alive.
“None of these kids played in the last three years, so I don’t know if it’s important to them,” he said. “I think they just want to play well in their last high school game.
“I think the motivation is just to play and win. We have a group of really strong competitors. A lot of the kids on our team played some really good football and went deep into the playoffs, so they’re used to winning so I think that’s what they expect to do and they have that expectation of themselves. They don’t need that outside motivation. It’s really interesting to see how they motivate themselves.”
Pennsylvania won the last three meetings by 18, 18 and 15 points. The win streak matches the state’s longest in the history of the Charities Classic. Pennsylvania also won three in a row from 1981 to 1983 and 2004 to 2006.
The Keystone dominance in the Big 30 game has coincided with the creation of the Frank Varischetti All-Star Game in Brockway, which matches players from the former Allegheny Mountain League and Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference.
However, this year the AML lost the Varischetti game for the first time, falling to the KSAC 20-7 on June 28 in the fourth annual matchup. On Pennsylvania’s 43-player roster tonight are 19 who suited up for the AML all-stars.
Bradford and Ridgway lead Pennsylvania with six players apiece, while Coudersport and Smethport each have five. For New York, six of its all-stars are from Randolph/Frewsburg. Olean and Salamanca are represented by five players each.
Caulcrick noted the last New York team to defeat Pennsylvania was coached by a Southwestern staff led by outgoing Trojans mentor Jay Sirianni in 2015.
“That was the first time I went to a Big 30 game and was just in awe about it,” Caulcrick said. “I thought it was a great atmosphere. They have about 4,500 people in the stands watching. The pageantry of the game, the meaning with the Big 30 game and the cause that it’s for and everything … that all resonated with me very well. It was just exciting to be there and watch it. Now to actually get to be a part of it, from the practices to the banquet to the parade to the game … culminate all those things together, it’s a great feeling, and it’s for a great cause.”
Tonight’s game features 24 of the 31 players named to the Times Herald’s 2018 Big 30 All-Star Team, which also included four juniors and a sophomore. Pennsylvania has 13 of those selections and New York 11.
Each coach offered his take on the keys to the matchup.
For New York, Caulcrick said, “How we’re going to do is going to be based off the line — offensive line and defensive line. If they come out ready to go, guns blazing, firing out, we’ll be all right. And the biggest thing is we’ve got to weather the storm. At the end of the day, after it’s all said and done, after the parade, after the introductions and everything, you’re playing a game on the field. You’ve just got to remember and go back to your basics of playing football and don’t forget your fundamentals.”
Said Pennsylvania’s Puglio: “From what I know about the Big 30 game, it’s keeping composure — no 15-yard penalties. I think that’s a recurring thing every year as personal fouls start to take over. We want to play a clean game, and it’s just typical football stuff: We want to control the ball, possess the ball and not turn the ball over. And on the other side, we want to try to take the ball away. Our focus now is fundamentals — just play football. When we get out there, it’s blocking, tackling. You’re not playing both sides of the ball, and you’re not playing every series on offense, so there’s no reason to give less than 100 percent every single play because you’re going to get a long break.”
