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Oct 30, 2009 9:26 pm US/Eastern
End Of An Era For Monaca, Rochester Bridge Rivalry
MONACA (KDKA) ―
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Former Rochester Mayor Gerald LaValle and John Antoline, son of the former mayor of Monaca, recreate a photo from 1988 that publicized the first official bridge rivalry game between the two towns.
KDKA
It started as a wager between two mayors and it turned into an event that has become larger than anyone could have imagined.
Sadly, the battle over the bridge between Rochester and Monaca is reaching the end of the road Saturday night.
Monaca and Rochester have been playing football since 1912. Back in 1988, the mayors of both towns decided raise the stakes by wagering naming rights for the bridge.
Whoever won would get their name on the bridge first.
To publicize the first game, then-Rochester Mayor Gerald LaValle and then-Monaca Mayor John Antoline met in the middle of the bridge for a photo shoot, down in a three-point stance.
"John came up with the idea. I thought it was a good idea and decided to meet on the bridge," LaValle said. "And us two old guys got in football stance, barely able to get down and it started from there."
In that first bridge battle, both teams went into the game undefeated, 8-0. Monaca eventually won 31-8 which meant the bridge would be called the Monaca-Rochester Bridge until the following season.
"We all knew people from Rochester. The kids we all played baseball and things growing up so we knew who they were and they knew who we were so absolutely – a big rivalry," John Antoline, son of the former mayor of Monaca, said.
There's been lots of great games over the years. The two teams met at Three Rivers Stadium in a 2000 Single A title game. Rochester won that one, 13-6.
Twenty-one years after the initial game, it will all come to an end Saturday night. Monaca has entered into a voluntary merger with Center to become Central Valley that has more to do with academics than athletics.
"It had a lot to do with the kind of curriculum that could be offered at a bigger school and frankly at some point and time I think there'll be other schools that are going to have to realize that this voluntary merger that Monaca and Center did is going to happen throughout the state," LaValle said. "It's going to have to happen because there's some schools that just cannot maintain the educational programs."
The end of the rivalry is painful.
"They're both football towns. They respect one another," Sam Cercone, Monaca's athletic director, said. "It's hard-nosed football and the guys and the kids and the coaches – everybody involved, the communities – they all come together and they look forward to this game."
"It's going to be sad because all of the coaches on there are my friends. Players – I have nephews that play now currently so we go to all the games," Antoline said. "And just to think that Monaca High School is not going to have a football team – I mean that's sad. It's a shame, but understood – something we have to do."
The coin toss will be held on the bridge at 10 a.m. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. in Rochester.
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