Each week throughout the high school football season, the Valley News Dispatch has taken a look at the players, coaches and events that shaped our scholastic legacy.
It’s been said that nothing worthwhile comes easy.
And the 1995 WPIAL champion Burrell football team is proof of that timeless adage.
The Bucs truly earned their Class 2A gold, surviving a triple overtime first round game, a mud-splattered victory in the semifinals and a harrowing defense of a two-point conversion try to bring home the title.
Burrell had high hopes coming into the season, making the 1993 playoffs before being eliminated by Washington. In 1994, Burrell was ousted by eventual champion New Brighton.
The playoff games might have been difficult, but the Bucs had the main ingredient to succeed — team unity.
“The most important moments when we were facing a tough environment was our cohesiveness,” said Dr. Seth Hornack, slotback and eventual Associated Press first-team, all-state defensive back. “Anybody could perform and we had unselfish players.”
Coach Tom Henderson credited support from not only the players, but their parents, too.
“We switched Seth from tailback to slotback so we could bring Johnny Horwatt in at tailback,” Henderson recalled. “I didn’t hear a word from Mr. or Mrs. Hornack, or Mr. or Mrs. Horwatt.”
Burrell got off to a quick start, knocking off Valley, 20-12, and East Allegheny, 26-15.
But the first road game of the season at Laurel resulted in a 41-7 setback.
“We didn’t watch any film on them, and they ran the option,” Hornack said. “We were out of sync. But that turned out to be a wake-up call for us.”
The Bucs rolled through the remainder of the regular season, defeating Ford City (35-8), Shady Side Academy (52-21), Deer Lakes (35-7), Mars (28-7), Freeport (48-14), then clinched their third consecutive Allegheny Conference title, 33-7, at Apollo-Ridge.
Quarterback Kevin Horwatt was 19-of-23 passing for 166 yards in that one, finishing the regular season with 1,335 yards, fourth in the WPIAL.
It was then playoff time. Burrell was seeded fourth and would face East Allegheny, vastly improved from Week 2. The Wildcats gave up only 70 points in the regular season — 26 to Burrell in one game — and pitched five shutouts.
The game was tied 7-7 after regulation. Both teams exchanged touchdowns over the first two overtimes. Then Burrell got its big break when Dave Keibler recovered a fumble in the third overtime. Hornack immediately scored on a 10-yard run, and the Bucs escaped with a 27-21 victory.
The Miracle in the Mud
An early snowfall blanketed Western Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Nov. 14 as Burrell prepared for the semifinal against defending champion New Brighton. Several playoff games were delayed from Friday to Saturday, including Riverview’s encounter against Monessen.
But Baldwin officials assured the WPIAL office that the field would be ready for play. Burrell assistant coach Mark Cosentino stopped by the field and saw a different story. A school dump truck was stuck on the field and Baldwin rented a crane to remove the truck, but the damage was done.
“I suggested to New Brighton’s coach (Joe Greco) that we both refuse to take the field and they would have to reschedule it, but he wouldn’t go along with it,” Henderson said.
Burrell scored quickly, using its spread offense before the field became a quagmire. New Brighton answered with a touchdown and two-point conversion to lead, 8-6. Neither team could gain any offensive traction until Ed Florence scored late in the third quarter.
New Brighton was running time off the fourth quarter clock when quarterback J.D. Basile fumbled on a botched handoff recovered by Jason Gregg. The play was nullified by a motion penalty, however. But the Lions had the same problem on the following play. This time Gregg recovered and slogged 61 yards for the game-winning touchdown.
The players’ uniforms were so muddied that it was at least 10 minutes before confirmation came to the press box that it was Gregg who scored. Even Gregg’s mother, Vicki, couldn’t tell that her son was the one who scored the touchdown until later that night.
On to the finals
Burrell was again the underdog at Three Rivers Stadium against Washington.
The Little Prexies scored with 19 seconds left in the first quarter. It was the first time Burrell ever surrendered points in a title game, after shutting out Freeport in 1967 and ’68, along with Beth-Center in 1986.
Washington nursed its 7-0 advantage into the second half, running 19 plays to Burrell’s four. But a 22-yard field goal was missed and the Bucs took advantage, tying the game and sending it into overtime.
It was the first championship game overtime in WPIAL history and Burrell scored first. The Little Prexies answered with a touchdown, but coach Guy Montecalvo decided to go for a two-point conversion and decide the game right then and there, noting the struggles of his team’s kicking game.
Montecalvo was also concerned that NFL goalposts (18 feet, 6 inches wide) were employed instead of the 23-feet, 4-inch wide high school goalposts. Washington ran a play with Aaron Gatten to the left, but Hornack and Billy Ream were waiting for the tackle, and Burrell sewed up its fourth WPIAL title.
The Bucs beat Tyrone in the PIAA semifinals, 34-14, before being dominated by Harrisburg’s Bishop McDevitt, 29-0, in the state finals.
The aftermath
After the Baldwin debacle, the WPIAL has used artificial turf for playoff games whenever possible.
Besides Hornack, Gregg and Joe Kurtik were on the all-state third team.
Henderson is retired and living in Delaware. He won 111 games during his Burrell tenure — good enough for 11th place on the all-time Alle-Kiski Valley coaching list.
Hornack is a Lower Burrell-based chiropractor, nutritionist and water therapy advocate.
And for you trivia buffs — don’t forget that the 1995 WPIAL champions all had double-L’s in their names. Besides Burrell, Penn Hills won the 4A crown, Belle Vernon took 3A honors and Farrell earned Class A gold.