This site is about the sports doings -- mainly football -- of the high schools in Venango County, Pa. Contact:
FOOTBALL
2005 Oilers ready for the kickoff
Oil City schedule 2026
Vintage mid-1960s Red Law (22)
Franklin schedule 2026
IT WAS ALWAYS
PENN STATE BLUE
FOR LA VERDE CREW
Years ago, the late Dr. Philip LaVerde was shaking his head as he told me his sons, Tiger and Matt, then teens attending Oil City schools, would watch Penn State football games on TV and call all the plays before they were run. Where did they get this from, he seemed to be saying. Certainly not me.
Point is, both boys were huge Penn State fans. (His home room teacher told me Tiger wore a Penn State shirt to school every day that school year.) Later on, Matt, who played quarterback for Oil City in 1995, got to see Penn State up close and personal as a preferred walk-on.
He later starred at middle linebacker for Mount Union, the Division III power, where he was teammates with some future famous football types. including Matt Campbell, now the head coach at Penn State.
Both LaVerdes coached at Franklin, and Matt later was the head man at Oil City (2008-15). Tiger moved on to Kirtland, Ohio, where he has coached eight state championship teams and many standouts, including his sons, Phil and most recently Jake.
And wouldn't you know? Jake, a QB at Kirtland, is a preferred walk-on safety at Penn State -- where he will be a classmate of cousin Steven Heise who graduated No. 2 in his class as he helped Oil City win titles in both football and basketball this past season. Derrick/News-Herald correspondent Joe Sager offers a look at the family here -- and it all starts with wiffle ball.
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Tiger LaVerde is pictured with sons Jake (left) and Phil. Tiger was Franklin's head coach from 2001-03. His brother, Matt, was an assistant at Franklin before serving as head coach at his alma mater, Oil City, from 2008-15. Tiger moved on to Kirtland, Ohio, where he is one of the nation's top schoolboy coaches.
Eyeball roll
All-knowing Grokipedia, an Elon Musk production, lists among other things, Pennsylvania high school football records. Found it Saturday. Never heard of it before. Was trying to look something up and ran into it and the above entry.
According to Musk and his minions, Ian Haynes, former Franklin quarterback, rushed for 606 yards against Oil City in 2014. That would be No. 2 on the state's all-time single-game rushing list behind Journey Brown's 722 vs. DuBois in 2015 if it were true, which it isn't.
I laughed and laughed and laughed when I saw that -- after which I did email Grokipedia a correction. (Grok will check it out. Yeah, you just do that.)
Haynes was in seventh grade in 2014. Franklin rushed for 191 yards as a team against Oil City in 2014. Zak Lynn was Franklin's leading rusher that season with 945 yards. Porter Remold was Franklin's quarterback.
The Franklin record for yards rushing in a game by a quarterback is 173 by Rich Cerro in 2003. The Franklin single-game rushing record by ANYBODY is 292 yards by Shawn Young against Fairview in 1991.
Now, "606" can be associated with Haynes, Franklin's all-time leading passer with more than 9,000 yards. That's how many yards he had PASSING against DuBois in 2017. (And Grokipedia does have that listed.)
Saw on Facebook where Franklin/new coach Austin Ion is planning a first annual Meet the Players night (varsity through junior high) Aug. 15. Starts at 4 p.m. and includes a flag football game featuring Knights of old. I imagine Haynes will be there and he'll run up and down the field six times. Also planned are a Chinese auction, games and a concession stand.
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