Coach’s Corner
Jim Render, USCHS Football Coach
We Got ’em Just Where We Want ’em The 1988 football season was my tenth year at Upper St. Clair. It was a year that would be life changing for me as a coach and for the football program at USC. We had some pretty good success in previous years, but we fell short of getting to the championship game at Three Rivers Stadium. I have lots of stories about playing in ankle deep mud and playing on frozen mud. Some good, some bad. We also had the misfortune of some strange calls by the WPIAL officials at the wrong time. On the other hand, we played some excellent opponents, including North Hills who won the mythical National Championship in 1987 as voted by USA Today. Comparatively, we’d won a lot of games, 52 in fact, between 1982 and 1987, but something would always happen before we got to the big dance. In 1988, several changes were made before the season began. First, we were moved into the western division of AAAA football. That meant we would play (teams listed north to south) Butler, North Allegheny, North Hills, Mt. Lebanon, Bethel Park, and Ringgold. We would not see the likes of Gateway and Central Catholic until the playoffs. The second change would be that for the first time in Pennsylvania history, we would have state playoffs to crown a PIAA state champion. Our western conference league was very competitive, with many great teams and players. We had a good, tough team, but lost to Mt. Lebanon in the third game, got shut out by North Hills in the fifth, and had four turnovers in a Saturday afternoon game at North Allegheny, losing 26–15. We were tied with our tenth opponent, Butler, for fourth place in the conference and needed to beat them to earn the final spot in the WPIAL playoffs. So, in essence, we traveled to Butler knowing that we would either win or the season would be over. We won that game 14–0, qualifying for the tournaCoach Render and Jerry ment of champions. I assumed my usual front seat on the right side of the bus for the late night ride home from Butler. Many thoughts and emotions run through my mind and body on those bus rides home. First, there was the thrill of victory and then I started thinking about what lay ahead. Not very far into the ride home, our always optimistic and feisty quarterback Jerry Berteotti leaned over my seat and said, “Coach, this is going to be great! We got ’em just where we want ’em.” Fortunately, the bus was dark and he could not see my expressions. I thought he was a little crazy. North Hills was still the defending champion, Mt. Lebanon had beaten us at home, Gateway was undefeated, and North Allegheny and Central Catholic were always looming in the playoff mix. I faked a “You’re right, Jerry,” response, since, as any successful coach knows, it’s always best to have a great quarterback on your side. 14
UPPER ST. CLAIR TODAY
Fall 2018
Jerry Berteotti, circa 1988
Jerry (right) with his dad, Jerry
In week one of the playoffs, we played at Gateway and came away with a 21–0 victory. Jerry’s marvelous touchdown pass in the third quarter got us going. On that same night, Central Catholic upset North Hills and Mt. Lebanon pummeled Woodland Hills 41–0. That set up a rematch with Lebo in a semi-final game played at Baldwin. Mt. Lebanon was ranked sixth in the state with a 9–1–1 record. Jerry decided to do his talking on a bigger stage and was quoted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Everything is just flowing for us. I think that with the confidence we have right now there isn’t anyone that can beat us.” Joe Namath wasn’t the only western Pennsylvania quarterback that could make bold predictions. Going into the game against Mt. Lebanon, Jerry had completed 49 of 98 pass attempts for 703 yards in 11 games; the Lebo quarterback, Matt Smith, the Almanac player of the year, completed 49 of 99 passes for 731 yards. Statistics don’t get much closer than that and a lot of interest was generated for the game between two neighboring towns playing each other for the second time and for the opportunity to play for a WPIAL championship. Current radio sports talk show host Mark Madden wrote an article in the Post-Gazette about the upcoming game, and he featured USC’s outstanding defensive lineman Jim Mansfield, the son of retired Steeler center, the great Ray Mansfield. Quarterback Berteotti scored on an option play in the second quarter to give USC a 7–0 halftime lead. Leading 14–0 with 2:42 left in the third quarter, we got the ball back and maintained it for 21 straight snaps under Jerry’s management, the clock winding down to 1:50 remained in the game. Running backs Pete Habib and Mike Thelk pounded Mt. Lebanon’s defense until we stalled at the Jerry, throwing the winning pass in the two-yard line. We won the 1988 WPIAL championship game rushing battle 258 to 53 and our defense had its third straight shutout. I must admit, that game is firmly embedded in my memory bank of thrills. We were now going to Three Rivers Stadium to play for the WPIAL championship. WTAE Channel 4 broadcast the game live Saturday night after Thanksgiving. Stan Savran and Jack Ham were the broadcast partners, along with Ann Devlin in the stands and Alby Oxenreiter on the sidelines. It was a big night for the Panthers as we secured another shutout, beating Pittsburgh Central Catholic 7–0 to claim our first outright WPIAL championship. Jerry was proven correct, we indeed “had ’em just where we wanted ’em.” As a side note, Central Catholic went on to win the first Pennsylvania state championship that year as our school district, along with a few others in the greater Pittsburgh area, had voted that September to not participate in the first state tournament. Also noteworthy
