On Sept. 8, 2006, Sid Facaros rushed for 114 yards and caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Jared Soell as the Riverview football team defeated Monessen, 28-20, at Riverside Park.
The victory was a solid start to that season for the Raiders, who would go on to finish 7-3 overall and make it to the WPIAL Class A playoffs.
That game also was historic for the Oakmont school that came into being in 1971 with the merger of Oakmont and Verona high schools.
It was the first home night game at Riverside Park as portable lights created a never-before-seen setting.
Since then, Riverview, with the blessing of Oakmont Borough, which owns Riverside Park, has brought in portable lights once each fall as part of the school’s homecoming celebration. That continued in September with a boys and girls soccer doubleheader Thursday and a football game Friday.
Now, with the recent securing of funding to install permanent lighting for the baseball and football/soccer fields, night games at Riverside Park could become a fixture. It is something that has many in the Riverview athletic community buzzing.
“I was really excited when I heard the news,” Riverview junior quarterback Connor Kmetz said. “I would be thrilled to see lights installed. My excitement isn’t just for football and the thought of playing all of the games in my senior year on Friday nights. I am excited for the other sports like soccer and baseball.
“The community will greatly love this change. I have had multiple family members not be able to come to a home game because the game is on Saturday afternoon. I knew some parents for soccer couldn’t come because the games were at four o’clock on random weekdays. I just think it will be a great change for the community and create a lot of excitement.”
Forty years ago, the Alle-Kiski Valley had five of its schools — Riverview, Burrell, Deer Lakes, Knoch and Fox Chapel — playing daylight football. Many of the local teams’ opponents also played on Saturdays. In all, 34 WPIAL stadiums didn’t have lights.
George Guido, former Valley News Dispatch writer and local sports historian, said that many times, the VND Game of the Week was a Saturday game.
Since then, lights at stadiums prevailed in almost every case to where only a select few didn’t have them. Western Beaver played the first Friday night home game in its 63 years of existence in September. The permanent lights installed at that stadium left only two schools without lights at their home field: Riverview and Summit Academy.
“I love what could be with permanent lights,” Riverview athletic director Andre Carter said. “I knew that when we rented those portable lights for the week, we would get probably double the crowd where people were able to come out for ‘Friday Night Lights.’ You never hear of ‘Saturday Afternoon Lights.’ People in the community really get up for that.”
Carter said the lights also would build momentum for businesses in Oakmont and surrounding areas that would benefit from an added presence of people before and after games.
The portable lights in place for the special home football and soccer matches were not as powerful and much lower than what the height of the permanent lights would be. It often created a dimmer playing environment than other more common stadium situations.
Despite that, Kmetz did appreciate the opportunity to share in the special two-day homecoming experience under the Thursday and Friday night lights.
“That’s one game you looked forward to every year,” Kmetz said. “The community really showed out for it. I think we can get that turnout for every game on Friday. I know there would be a lot of support for the soccer and baseball games, too, especially from the students.”
This past fall, the Thursday soccer doubleheader saw Springdale’s rival teams get the better of Riverview. The Raiders football team fell to Leechburg in a competitive game the next night. But the Raiders teams did have their fair share of triumphs under the portable lights the past two decades.
“The kids are pretty excited,” Riverview boys soccer coach Mickey Namey said. “One of our juniors this year, Nico Lascola, his dad, Anthony, was one of the key players on council to get the funding for the lights. He’s been working on this for a couple of years. We’ve kind of had hope. It doesn’t seem like a wish list anymore. It is now becoming more of a reality.
“We’ve played the special games on Thursday nights, but the permanent lights will give it a different feel. We usually have just three or four night games each year, so to have that home night-game experience all the time will create a lot of buzz and energy. The student body shows up more. We know what that special atmosphere is all about.”
Throughout the summer and into the fall seasons, the boys and girls soccer teams hold practices at McKinley Field in Verona and Creekside Park in Oakmont.
Tony Lascola, the chair of Oakmont council’s parks and recreation committee, said during a council meeting last week that the public wants the lights in as soon as possible.
Borough manager Scot Fodi added that there are a few more items to work through before a tentative timeline can become more of a certainty. The next time council could vote on the project or any of its components would be at its meeting Tuesday evening.
Riverview baseball would make history with its first night game. Veteran coach Bill Gras said that when the time comes — most likely next spring — a couple of night games would be great additions to the already welcomed set of afternoon contests on the Riverside Park field.
“(Athletic director) Andre (Carter) and I talked about it and speculated about how many times we would use the lights,” Gras said. “A big section game, senior night, something like that. Senior night would allow more parents to come. I am sure any night game would attract more students and others in the community.”
Riverview played a night game last spring at rival OLSH, and Gras said it was a nice evening with a good crowd to watch two teams battle in a key game at the top of the section standings.
“There are positive factors to both night and day games,” Gras said. “We would have the opportunity to practice on the field under the lights and become more comfortable with the setting whereas an opponent coming in might need more time to adjust.”