When we talk about the greatest football teams in WPIAL history, the conversation usually gravitates toward the big schools.
Penn Hills. North Hills. Central Catholic. Woodland Hills. McKeesport. Upper St. Clair. Aliquippa.
But greatness isn’t determined by enrollment.
And if we’re really talking about dominance, there is a small-school team from Beaver County that absolutely deserves to be part of the conversation.
The 1998 Rochester Rams.
They didn’t just win the WPIAL championship. They didn’t just win a state championship. They went 15-0, became the first Beaver County football team to finish a season 15-0, and put together one of the most dominant defensive playoff runs Western Pennsylvania has ever seen.
And the deeper you look at that team, the more impressive it becomes.
Before Rochester Became Rochester
People who are younger might look at Rochester’s football history and assume the Rams had always been a state powerhouse.
But that 1998 team helped change the standard.
Rochester had already won WPIAL championships in 1991 and 1992, so the program wasn’t coming out of nowhere. But Pennsylvania had been conducting statewide football playoffs only since 1988, and Rochester had never won a PIAA championship.
That changed in 1998.
And it wasn’t some Cinderella run where Rochester barely survived every week. For most of that season, the Rams were destroying people.
According to the WPIAL’s own Hall of Fame account, Rochester outscored its nine regular-season opponents and three WPIAL playoff opponents by an average margin of 29 points.
Read that again.
Twenty-nine points per game. And through those first 12 games, not one opponent finished within 13 points of Rochester.
That’s domination.
Then Came Monaca
If you know Beaver County football history, you understand what Rochester versus Monaca meant.
These weren’t two schools separated by an hour-long bus ride. They were neighboring communities separated by the Ohio River.
And in 1998, that rivalry ended up on one of Western Pennsylvania football’s biggest stages: Three Rivers Stadium for the WPIAL Class A championship.
This was finally the game where Rochester got pushed.
The score was tied 12-12 at halftime before Monaca took an 18-12 lead in the third quarter. For the first time all season, Rochester was in a real fight.
And then Rueben Jackson changed the game. Jackson exploded for a 61-yard touchdown run to tie it at 18.
But there was a problem.
He injured his back on the play and couldn’t return. Now Rochester had to find another way.
That’s where Mookie Anderson stepped in.
The game went to overtime, and Anderson scored from six yards out to put Rochester ahead 24-18.
Monaca got its opportunity. Rochester’s defense ended it. Dave Kindelberger intercepted a pass, and the Rams were WPIAL champions.
Rochester 24, Monaca 18.
Sometimes a dominant team’s greatness isn’t revealed when it’s beating somebody by 30. It’s revealed when somebody finally punches it in the mouth.
Monaca did. Rochester responded.
That Backfield Was Loaded
This wasn’t a team being carried by one superstar. Rochester could run the football with multiple guys.
Jackson finished the season with 1,545 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns. Anderson added 1,038 yards and another 20 touchdowns. Then you had Darrell Daman, who rushed for 590 yards and scored 10 touchdowns.
That’s nearly 3,200 rushing yards and 50 touchdowns from three players alone.
Everybody knew what Rochester wanted to do. That didn’t mean anybody could stop it.
But as impressive as those numbers were, I don’t think offense is what made the 1998 Rams special.
That Defense Was RIDICULOUS
This is where the argument for that Rochester team really gets serious.
Once the Rams entered the state playoffs, their defense went to another level. Rochester allowed six total points during its entire PIAA playoff run.
Six. Not six per game. Six TOTAL.
Rochester defeated Smethport 41-6 in the state semifinal.
Then came Southern Columbia.
If you know Pennsylvania high school football, you don’t need anybody explaining what that name means.
Southern Columbia became the gold standard for small-school football in Pennsylvania and one of the most successful programs in the history of the state.
Rochester met them in Hershey for the Class A state championship. And didn’t allow a point.
Rochester 18, Southern Columbia 0
Southern Columbia brought its Delaware Wing-T offense into Hershey. Rochester completely shut it down.
The Tigers managed only 82 total yards on 33 rushing attempts. Eighty-two yards. In a state championship game. Against Southern Columbia.
Rochester won 18-0 and completed the perfect 15-0 season.
When we’re judging historical teams, I always look at what they did when the competition got better.
Anybody can pile up numbers against overmatched teams. What happens in November and December?
Rochester’s defense got better.
Six points allowed throughout the entire state playoff run. A shutout in Hershey. A perfect record. WPIAL championship. PIAA championship.
There wasn’t anything else they could have accomplished.
Kris Griffin Was a Dude
That defense included Kris Griffin, who eventually reached the NFL.
Griffin went on to play linebacker at Indiana University before spending time in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns.
But Rochester wasn’t simply one future professional surrounded by average high school players. The WPIAL credits Griffin and Rick Daman among the leaders of that dominant defense.
That’s what stands out when you study great high school teams.
The recognizable name might grab your attention. Then you start going through the roster and realize there were good football players everywhere.
Dan Matsook Deserves His Flowers Too
You can’t tell this story without talking about the man leading the program.
Dan Matsook.
Matsook coached Rochester from 1985 through 1999, and his 1998 season earned him Pennsylvania Small School Coach of the Year honors.
What Rochester accomplished wasn’t accidental. It was disciplined, physical small-school football. And that 1998 championship didn’t end up being some isolated magical season for the program.
It helped launch an incredible stretch.
Rochester would win another state championship in 2000. Then another in 2001.
That means Rochester won three PIAA championships in four seasons, beating Southern Columbia in the state championship game all three times.
The 1998 team started that run.
Put Some Respect on Small-School Football
This is why I don’t like dismissing teams simply because they played Class A.
Would the 1998 Rochester Rams have beaten every great Quad-A team from that era?
I don’t know. Nobody knows. That’s not how historical greatness should be measured anyway. Judge teams by what they did against the competition in front of them.
Rochester couldn’t control its enrollment. All it could do was line up against everybody on its schedule and beat them.
Fifteen games. Fifteen wins.
They won their rivalry game for a WPIAL championship. They went through the state playoffs allowing six points. Then they reached Hershey and shut out Southern Columbia.
What exactly were they supposed to do differently?
One of the Greatest Teams in WPIAL History
Rochester’s 1998 team was eventually inducted into the WPIAL Hall of Fame in 2019.
That’s where it belongs.
And when we have conversations about the greatest WPIAL teams ever, that’s where the 1998 Rams belong too.
Maybe you don’t put them above the legendary Penn Hills, North Hills, Central Catholic, McKeesport or Aliquippa teams.
That’s what makes these debates fun.
But you can’t leave Rochester out simply because it was a small school.
Because the resume speaks for itself: 15-0. WPIAL champions. PIAA champions. First Beaver County team ever to finish 15-0. Six points allowed during the state playoff run. Southern Columbia shut out in Hershey.
Nearly three decades later, there really isn’t much else that needs to be said.
The 1998 Rochester Rams weren’t just a great Class A football team.
They were a great football team. Period.