The Post-Gazette’s Legacy Series periodically looks back at notable teams, coaches and athletes in WPIAL/City League history.
This was McKeesport’s version of a “30 for 30” show.
Thirty players from McKeesport High School’s 1994 football squad all came back for a game at their alma mater last Friday to be honored on the 30-year anniversary of a special team. The star player of that team, the all-everything linebacker who would go on to play in a Super Bowl, at one point gazed at his old teammates and coaches gathered on the field and almost got a little emotional.
“Just looking at those guys,” Brandon Short said, “thinking about what we did, where we all came from ... it was just surreal.”
Just like the McKeesport Tigers and that 1994 season.
The super player Short, the memorable state championship game, the wishbone offense the Tigers used, the closeness of the players, the way the team lifted up the town of McKeesport and the overwhelming support of fans … all of those things mixed together to make the 1994 McKeesport Tigers a memorable and unique team, one that finished with a 15-0 record and WPIAL and state titles. Their story is worth retelling.
“That season meant more to me, winning the state championship meant more to me, than any other football accomplishment I made because I did it with the guys I grew up with and loved,” said Short, who went on to become an All-American at Penn State and played seven years in the NFL. “If I didn’t have that foundation, the support from those days, I could not have achieved all the other things I did from there on.”
When the 1994 team was honored at halftime of last Friday’s game, it would have been appropriate if the players ran on the field. Because that’s what this team did — run.
Has there ever been a Pennsylvania state champion that had a statistical passing line in a PIAA title game of 0 – 0 – 0? That was the number of completions, attempts and yards for McKeesport when it edged Downingtown, 17-14, in the PIAA Class 4A championship on a rainy late Saturday afternoon at Mansion Park Stadium in Altoona on Dec. 10, 1994.
McKeesport had five postseason games (WPIAL and PIAA) during the 1994 season. The Tigers threw a total of 15 passes in those five games, and quarterback Bill Isbir completed four. Seriously. But it didn’t matter. McKeesport ran an old-school wishbone offense, that was torture for opponents. Coach George Smith installed the wishbone (triple-option) a few years earlier and it eventually became known at McKeesport years later as the flexbone.
But with the wishbone in 1994, McKeesport won a WPIAL title for the first time since before World War II (1938).
“It was the team of teams,” said George Smith, McKeesport’s coach in 1994.
When reminded his team didn’t attempt a pass in the state championship and completed only four passes in five postseason games, Smith said, “Ain’t that something? That offense just fit that team perfectly. [Not throwing] wasn’t done intentionally. It was just the way it was because we had so many running backs that fit that offense.”
Isbir completed 22 of 60 passes that entire season for 394 yards.
“I always remember an old-time McKeesport player, a guy maybe in his 60s, talking to me that year and telling me this was something I’ll remember the rest of my life,” Isbir said. “But I was only a junior. You’re young and think, ‘I’ll have a lot of other great times.’ But that man was right. He was spot on. That year was something I’ll never forget, and I’m still very proud of being from McKeesport.”
They knew
Although McKeesport hadn’t won a WPIAL title in 36 years, the 1994 Tigers had a feeling that this was going to be a good, good season.
“We just had players,” said the 74-year-old Smith, now retired in still living in McKeesport with his wife, Michelle.
The 1993 season ended with a loss to Upper St. Clair in the WPIAL semifinals. Short vividly recalls details of the locker room after that defeat.
“That team had a chance to be special, but we lost some players to injuries,” Short said. “I still remember our quarterback, Lynn Washowich, standing in front of the team after the game, with tears in his eyes, and saying, ‘Don’t worry, you’re going to win the championship next year.”
Before the 1994 season ever started, Short had a huge sign on his bedroom wall that simply read, “Tigers Are #1.” It was a sign of things to come. He looked at the sign before he went to sleep, and it was the first thing he saw when he awoke.
Short now lives in Edgewater, N.J., with his wife, Mahreen, and two children. He is a portfolio manager for a real estate fund.
“We used to always talk about winning the championship,” Short said of his McKeesport days. “We manifested that we wanted to win it, and we did everything together as a team. That championship was what I thought about every day.”
Short and Co.
Short was most certainly the heart and soul of the 1994 team. His talent made him stand out, a 6-foot-3, 250-pound senior and a ball of intensity. He is considered one of the best WPIAL players in the past four decades. He was recruited by many major colleges and committed to Penn State during the season, breaking the hearts of many Pitt fans.
At McKeesport, Short became like a folk hero to the town as a teenager. He grew up in the Harrison Village projects, was raised by his grandmother, and his play on the field and attitude off it touched many. He was mature beyond his years.
One of Short’s most memorable plays came on the final play of the first half of the state championship game. Short broke through the line, tackled the Downingtown quarterback with one arm and used his other arm to bring down the running back. After the game, Downingtown coach John Barr called Short “phenomenal.”
“He was just dominating as a player,” Smith said. “He just had a way about him. Other guys on the team were from the projects, too. But with Brandon, he somehow controlled everyone. All the players knew you had to play a certain way and act a certain way off the field because of Brandon. He made sure you didn’t have mistakes outside of football. There were kids who actually didn’t make it through on the team because they couldn’t follow his code off the field.”
But McKeesport in 1994 was more than Short. There was talent everywhere, especially in the backfield. Isbir was a master at running the option out of the wishbone under the tutelage of Jamie Eckels, the team’s quarterbacks coach who passed away earlier this year.
McKeesport was blessed with a number of talented running backs. Jermaine “Droop” Cromerdie rushed for 1,339 yards and was also an excellent defensive back.
“Brandon was special, but was so Cromerdie. There was no one like him,” Smith said.
Glenn Allen rushed for close to 1,000 yards and Isbir for more than 700. Fullbacks Casey Holtzman and Keonte Campbell were more than serviceable, too.
Ron Rutherford was the split end. Short was also an offensive guard and Mike Cherepko, Steve Kovack, Jim Litzinger, Paul Farrell, Ed Stockett and Dino Mallas were the linemen who all started at one point during the season.
The defense, under coordinator Ivan Hampton, featured Short and fellow linebacker Roger Wilson (Cromerdie and Wilson ended up signing with the University of Kansas). Bob Eastman and Jared Miller were the other two linebackers. Josh Lefcowitz, Mark Steele and Tom Knight were the defensive linemen while Cromerdie, Keelan Rozier, Seaon Coleman and Jason Harrison handed the secondary.
Steele is the police chief in McKeesport these days and Cherepko McKeesport’s Mayor.
Community backed
McKeesport played in the largest classification, but with the way the community jumped on the bandwagon and supported this team, it was like a bigger version of the basketball movie “Hoosiers.”
Late in the season, signs supporting the Tigers started to show up all over town. They were on storefronts and restaurant signs.
The week of the state championship game, a sign on DOT’S Family Restaurant in McKeesport read, “Day Cook Wanted … Cabbabe Rolls, Stuffed Peppers … Go Tigers!”
Home games in 1994 were packed. During the regular season, McKeesport went 10-0. The Tigers beat Central Catholic, 27-0, in the sixth game, shutting out a team that featured future NFL quarterback Marc Bulger. The only close game was a 21-14 victory against Penn Hills.
McKeesport shut out Greensburg Salem, 14-0, in the first round of the playoffs and beat Connellsville, 14-7, in the semifinals. Short returned a fumble 47 yards for a touchdown in that game and the winning score came with 2:33 left in the game when Isbir, when almost being sacked, pitched the ball to Cromerdie, who ran 79 yards for a TD.
McKeesport defeated Upper St. Clair and legendary coach Jim Render, 21-14, in the WPIAL final at Three Rivers Stadium, when Short spent much the night chasing around USC freshman QB Mac McArdle.
In the state semifinals, McKeesport edged Erie Central, and this was hard to believe: The Tigers won the game on a pass. The only pass Isbir completed came late in the first half when his wobbly attempt landed in the arms of Cromerdie for a 38-yard touchdown.
“It was a duck,” Short said with a laugh.
McKeesport won the game, 7-6.
In the state championship game, Short went against Downingtown star running back Aaron Harris, who would be a teammate of Short’s at Penn State.
McKeesport had a memorable goal-line stand in the fourth quarter, as Short and Rozier stopped Harris at the goal line on fourth down. Trailing 14-10, McKeeport’s winning drive started at its own 33. On 4th-and-1 at the Downingtown 43, Isbir barely picked up the first down. Then Allen ran to the 31. On the next play, Isbir kept the ball on an option and scooted 31 yards for the winning score with just 2:44 left.
The wet, soggy McKeesport faithful jumped around in jubilation. McKeesport easily sold its allotment of 3,200 tickets for the game. It was the largest crowd ever for a state final at Altoona. Forty-three McKeesport school buses brought fans to the game.
“That team just had a way about them and it affected the whole town,” Smith said. “It’s the kind of thing you don’t see a whole lot any more.”
A week later, there was a parade in the town of McKeesport. Players rode through on cars with many adoring fans lining the streets.
“For all of us, it was a special time,” Short said. “Hopefully, we gave other people some memories, as well.”
First Published: October 9, 2024, 7:09 p.m.
Updated: October 9, 2024, 11:08 p.m.
