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Jeannette's Terrelle Pryor breaks free for a long run against Wilmington in the second half of a game in December 2006.
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Jeannette High could win its 700th football game tonight

Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

Jeannette High could win its 700th football game tonight

Jeannette High School used to have so many students that the football team always played in the largest classification of the WPIAL and more than held its own against the big boys. But as the steel mill industry crashed, the population in this Westmoreland County town dwindled and the school enrollment decreased.

Jeannette football eventually dropped to the smallest classification in the league. With a senior class of only 55 students, Jeannette is in the second year of playing Class A.

But football is Jeannette’s paradox. Despite the drastic loss of population and students over the past four decades, Jeannette still wins like few others. And after tonight, you might have 700 good reasons to call Jeannette one of the elite programs in the WPIAL, the state — and even the country.

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With a win tonight against Serra, Jeannette will have its 700th win. The school is planning a celebration in two weeks, but Rock Chalk Jayhawk will most likely reverberate tonight, and shake the record books on all levels. Jeannette would be only the second school in WPIAL history to reach 700 wins (New Castle is the other). Jeannette also would become just the sixth school in the state to win 700 and only the 35th in the history of high school football in the U.S.

For a school that is now the 16th-smallest in the WPIAL and for a team that has only 31 players, this is big.

“When you think, only two teams in the WPIAL will have done it?” said Jeannette coach Roy Hall, a 1982 Jeannette graduate. “Look at us. Look at Jeannette. What else do we have to hang our hat on these days? So, it is big.”

Besides New Castle, the four other teams in the state that have 700 wins are Mount Carmel, Easton, Berwick and Steelton-Highspire. To give you an idea about the rich history of Pennsylvania high school football, three of the 12 winningest teams in the country are from the Keystone state and 13 of the top 50.

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Then there is “tiny” Jeannette, the school that has won seven WPIAL titles, put seven players in the NFL, now making its way into the 700 club, grabbing the attention of players and coaches from Jeannette eras of yesteryear.

Joe Mucci had a tremendous coaching career at Jeannette, winning three WPIAL titles and compiling a 150-33-3 record from 1968-85. Mucci is now 81, lives in Greensburg and still gets back to Jeannette for a few games every season. The 700 wins were somewhat lost on Mucci for a while, but not now.

“I just didn’t give it much thought at all before, to be honest,” said Mucci, who plans to attend the game tonight. “But now that it’s coming out, and you really look at it, I really feel very honored to be connected to this. I had no idea where Jeannette fell within Western Pennsylvania, the state and all over the country. It’s something.”

Mucci sent 26 players to Division I colleges.

“The great part of the city of Jeannette is the pride those people have taken in their sports teams,” said Mucci. “I was there [as a coach and administrator] for close to 30 years. You can’t believe when I was there what the success of sports did for that town and the entire school district. Most of those people were factory workers and laborers. and their football meant so much. There aren’t as many people nowadays, but it still means a lot.”

Jeannette still has a player in the NFL these days and is a legendary figure in the town. Terrelle Pryor was one of the best athletes in the WPIAL in decades, a former Parade magazine national player of the year. He was a quarterback at Ohio State and in the NFL, but has made the Cleveland Browns — as a wide receiver.

One of Jeannette’s all-time favorite sons is Dick Hoak, a former star running back on the 1956 that won a WPIAL championship in the league’s highest classification. He played at Penn State, with the Steelers and was the Steelers running backs coach for a number of years. He still regularly comes to Jeannette games.

Another one of Jeannette’s top players was Steve August, a former Jeannette lineman who played in the NFL from 1977-84. There was also Dante Wiley, a Parade All-American quarterback who graduated in 1984 and was recruited by colleges across the country. He went to Pitt, eventually left and ended up a linebacker at Nebraska.

Those many stars are some of the reasons Jeannette has 16 undefeated regular seasons, which ties Aliquippa for the most in WPIAL history. Jeannette also has made 37 WPIAL playoff appearances, second behind Aliquippa.

But coaches also have been vital to Jeannette’s winning heritage. There have been four since Mucci — and Mucci has ties to all of them. Art Tragesser and Bob Murphy were assistants under Mucci. Ray Reitz and Hall played for Mucci. The family ties also run deep in Jeannette football. Hall, born and raised in Jeannette, has had 11 nephews play for him.

“Sometimes, I feel like I’m a guy who is 100 years old because I can tell how it used to be here and what it is now,” said Hall. “It’s different, but football still is special.”

For more on high school sports, go to “Varsity Blog” at www.post-gazette.com/varsityblog. Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1975 and Twitter @mwhiteburgh

First Published: September 11, 2015, 5:12 p.m.

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Jeannette's Terrelle Pryor breaks free for a long run against Wilmington in the second half of a game in December 2006.  (Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)
Matt Freed/Post-Gazette
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