New 412 Football Classic features pair of West Hills high school teams
A new high school football showcase set to launch this fall will feature a distinct West Hills flavor.
The field for the inaugural 412 Football Classic, put together by F.N.B. Stadium and the Riverhounds Sports Group, was unveiled Thursday, and two of the three matchups will include a West Hills high school.
On Friday, Oct. 16, Moon Area will take on Penn Hills in a Class 5A Northeast Conference matchup.
And on Saturday, Oct. 17, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart will match up against Hopewell in a Class 3A Western Hills Conference game.
Kicking off the new showcase will be Neshannock playing North Catholic on Thursday, Oct. 15.
Kickoff will be at 7 p.m. for all three games, giving family, fans and other supporters a chance to view high school matchups in a professional sports setting.
OLSH coach Donnie Militzer won’t take credit for making the event happen, but Militzer said Thursday he brought up the idea after first meeting Jeff Garner, president of F.N.B. Stadium and Riverhounds Sports Group, a couple of years ago.
“I told him it would be great to have games down there again,” Militzer said of Garner, whose son, Landon, is a sophomore on this year’s OLSH football team.
“He said he wanted to do it for years, but there was a lot that went into it logistically.”
Militzer said the idea of holding a one-off game there last year came up, but it didn’t make economic sense for the Riverhounds. But when the idea surfaced this time around to have an entire weekend of high school football at F.N.B. Stadium, it penciled out.
Militzer said he was on board from the start and helped fill out the field by making a few calls. The fact that neither OLSH nor Moon have a true home field this year while Moon’s stadium is being renovated made it easier for those two teams to come on board.
“It finally came to fruition a couple of years after talking about how nice it would be,” Militzer said.
Moon roach Ryan Linn said playing at F.N.B. Stadium will be a great experience for his players, especially since they won’t have a chance to experience a true home game.
“This will allow us to give these seniors and this team an experience they will never forget,” said Linn, who along with Militizer and several players from both teams attended a press conference Thursday to talk about the event.
“It’s an honor to be selected for this,” Linn added. “The opportunity to play Penn Hills in this setting will be great for both teams. The kids are excited, and the seniors who went down [Thursday] said they couldn’t wait for the game.”
Militzer said the atmosphere at F.N.B. figures to be electric, given the dramatic backdrop of the downtown behind the stadium.
“It’s outstanding,” Militzer said. “And I have about a dozen kids who live within five minutes of the stadium, so for them, it’ll be a really big deal.”
Militzer said he doesn’t expect the setting to get in the way of his team performing.
“It’s like playing at [Acrisure Stadium],” he said. “When you’re out there in warmups, it’s kind of, ‘Wow.’ But once the game starts, it’s ‘Let’s play ball.’”
Promoters of the the 412 Football Classic said it’s designed to provide participating schools and their communities with an elevated game-day experience, while introducing a new annual event to the F.N.B. Stadium calendar.
The games will mark the return of football to F.N.B. Stadium for the first time since 2018. The pro soccer venue has been a home for football many times before, however, having previously hosted WPIAL football contests, the Pittsburgh Passion women’s football team and the University of Pittsburgh’s Spring Game in 2015.
Garner, whose daughter, Lola, was a standout athlete at OLSH before graduating in the spring, said during Thursday’s press conference that he and his group are excited to open the stadium doors to the six high school teams and give players, coaches and fans a chance to experience their games “on a professional stage.”
“One of the things that makes this venue special is its ability to bring people together for experiences beyond our regular soccer events,” he said. “We want the 412 Football Classic to become an annual tradition, giving Western Pennsylvania high school teams the chance to create some great memories at a truly unique venue.”
Tickets for the 412 Football Classic are on sale now, with both general public and team-specific on-sale links. To purchase, visit Ticketmaster, or head to riverhounds.com/412footballclassic to access the team-specific ticket offers.
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