When we talk about the great high school football teams in Western Pennsylvania history, certain programs naturally dominate the conversation.
Aliquippa. Penn Hills. North Hills. Central Catholic. Woodland Hills. McKeesport. Upper St. Clair.
But every once in a while, a team comes along from a smaller school and puts together a season that deserves to live forever.
The 1999 South Side Beaver Rams were one of those teams. And they deserve their flowers.
I remember that team because 1999 was my senior year at Penn Hills. So when I think about that era of WPIAL football, those teams and players are still fresh in my mind.
South Side didn’t just have a nice season. They finished the job.
They went 14-0, won a WPIAL championship at Three Rivers Stadium and then went to Hershey and won a PIAA state championship.
For a school from Hookstown, that’s a massive accomplishment.
The Big 7 Was No Joke
To really appreciate what South Side accomplished, you have to understand the football environment they were playing in.
The Big 7 was loaded.
From 1995 through 2001, a team from the Big 7 won six PIAA championships. Farrell won back-to-back state championships in 1995 and 1996. Rochester won state gold in 1998, 2000 and 2001. And right in the middle of Rochester’s run was South Side Beaver in 1999.
That tells you something about the level of Class A football being played in that conference during that era.
South Side had already been building toward something special, too. In 1998, the Rams finished tied for second in the Big 7 with Monaca and Farrell, two games behind eventual WPIAL and PIAA champion Rochester.
One year later, South Side became the king of the conference. The Rams went a perfect 14-0 and recorded six shutouts.
They weren’t sneaking up on anybody anymore. They were the team everybody was chasing.
A Championship at Three Rivers
South Side’s road to Hershey first required surviving Western Pennsylvania.
The Class A championship game matched the Rams against Big 7 rival Monaca at Three Rivers Stadium. South Side won 21-14, capturing the program’s first WPIAL football championship since 1970.
Think about that. Twenty-nine years between WPIAL titles.
This was the group that finally brought another championship back to Hookstown.
But they weren’t finished.
Sean McCune Was a Problem
You can’t talk about that South Side team without talking about Sean McCune. McCune was a big-time football player, and when you look back at that season, his name deserves to be remembered among the best players in Western Pennsylvania at the time.
He was recognized as the 1999 Pennsylvania Player of the Year by EasternPAFootball.com.
But what stands out about this South Side team is that it wasn’t built around one guy. They had players who made winning plays when they mattered.
Cory Boyd. David Brandon. Dan Nale. Rob Melnick. Jared Lewis. South Side had toughness, confidence and playmakers.
When you’re a smaller school trying to make a run through the WPIAL and then through the state playoffs, you need dudes.
South Side had them.
Then They Destroyed Bishop Carroll
Winning the WPIAL championship gave South Side an opportunity to prove its run wasn’t just a Western Pennsylvania story.
The Rams made that point emphatically. In the PIAA Class A semifinal, South Side Beaver beat Bishop Carroll 53-6.
Read that score again. 53-6.
That’s not surviving. That’s domination.
South Side had punched its ticket to Hershey. And waiting there was Southern Columbia.
Southern Columbia Was Already a State Power
This part of the story matters.
Southern Columbia wasn’t just another team standing between South Side and a championship. The Tigers were making their fifth appearance in the Class A state championship game in six years.
They had been there before.
Their record in those previous championship games was only 1-3, but Southern Columbia had clearly established itself as one of the premier Class A programs in Pennsylvania.
South Side was walking into a championship game against a program that was becoming accustomed to playing on that stage.
And the Rams weren’t intimidated.
A State Championship Game to Remember
The championship was played in a steady rain, and South Side struck first.
Cory Boyd scored on a 2-yard touchdown run. Then McCune connected with David Brandon for a 5-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter. Right before halftime, Jared Lewis drilled a 35-yard field goal to send South Side into the locker room leading 15-7. The Rams eventually built their advantage to 21-7.
But Southern Columbia wasn’t going away.
The Tigers rallied in the second half and tied the game at 21 on a 22-yard touchdown pass with just over five minutes remaining.
Now everything South Side had worked for came down to the final few minutes. And this is where championship teams make championship plays.
McCune used a quick kick to pin Southern Columbia deep in its own territory.
Instead of playing conservatively, the Tigers decided to attack. It backfired.
Southern Columbia quarterback Matt Kaskie threw behind his intended receiver, and South Side defensive back Rob Melnick intercepted the pass.
Melnick returned it to the Southern Columbia 35-yard line with only 1:04 remaining. Suddenly, South Side had a chance to win the state championship. McCune found Dan Nale for a 30-yard pass and run that moved the Rams deep into scoring territory.
Two plays later, Boyd punched it in from three yards out.
Nine seconds remained.
South Side Beaver 27. Southern Columbia 21.
Game. Perfect season. State champions.
Afterward, South Side coach Glenn McDougal summed up what that moment meant. “You work all your life to be a state champion,” McDougal said. “It’s an unbelievable feeling with a lot of emotion.”
You can understand why.
A small school from Hookstown had just finished 14-0 and won the biggest game in Pennsylvania Class A football.
Put That Accomplishment Into Perspective
This is why I wanted to write about this team.
Sometimes history naturally favors the programs that win over and over again.
When Aliquippa wins, we remember it. When Central Catholic wins, we remember it. When North Hills, Penn Hills, Woodland Hills or McKeesport produces a historically great team, people are still talking about those teams decades later.
But South Side Beaver?
A lot of people outside Beaver County probably don’t bring that 1999 team up enough. They should.
That group became the first South Side Beaver team to win a PIAA football championship, and it did it by going undefeated.
Nobody can take that away.
Part of an Incredible Era
The bigger picture makes South Side’s accomplishment even more impressive.
Rochester won the Class A state championship in 1998. South Side Beaver won it in 1999. Rochester came right back and won again in 2000 and 2001.
Four straight Class A state championships won by Beaver County schools. And Southern Columbia was the opponent in the championship game all four years.
Rochester gets plenty of respect for what it accomplished during that era, and rightfully so. But right in the middle of that incredible run sits South Side Beaver.
1999 belongs to them.
Give Them Their Flowers
One thing I’ve tried to do with DrewSchifino.com is make sure Western Pennsylvania sports history doesn’t disappear.
There were too many great players.
Too many great coaches. Too many great teams. And sometimes the teams from smaller communities don’t get talked about nearly enough.
The 1999 South Side Beaver Rams deserve to be remembered.
They survived one of the toughest Class A conferences in Western Pennsylvania. They went undefeated. They won the WPIAL championship at Three Rivers Stadium. They demolished Bishop Carroll 53-6. They went to Hershey and stared down Southern Columbia.
Then, with the state championship hanging in the balance, Rob Melnick made the interception, Sean McCune made the throw, Dan Nale made the play and Cory Boyd finished it with nine seconds left.
14-0. Big 7 champions. WPIAL champions. PIAA champions. And a place in Western Pennsylvania football history forever.
South Side Beaver, this one is for you.
The 1999 Rams deserve their flowers.