High school football has been a Wayne County tradition for more than a half-century

HONESDALE — It was just after dawn on a cold, snowy morning almost exactly 40 years ago as my teammates and I trudged out onto the practice field.

Most of Wayne County was still snug in bed dreaming of turkey legs, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie … but not us.

No, we were the Honesdale High School varsity football team, Suburban League and Eastern Conference Class B Northern Division champions. Undefeated and one win away from a berth in the state tournament.

We’d struggled out of bed, dressed and driven through the flakes for this “voluntary” workout under the watchful eyes of coaches Butch Keller, Jim Rodda, Rich Chulada and Jim Consagra.

More: Wayne Highlands Youth Football Organization enjoyed a stellar season

Also by Kevin Edwards: Western Wayne sets its sights on upset of Scranton Prep in Class AAA title tilt

“This is how championships are won!” Coach Keller shouted, a whistle clenched between his teeth as we ran through our drills. “How many other teams do you think are practicing on Thanksgiving morning?”

That “optional” workout, which not a single one of us missed, was just one of the many lessons about the value of hard work and dedication we learned that year. It’s also a treasured memory that inevitably comes up any time we gather to reminisce.

And as just a cursory glance at the history books reveals, similar memories resonate across the generations…

In the beginning

Keith Sutton is a local legend in northeastern Pennsylvania.

In addition to being a founding member of the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR), Sutton served as sports editor at The Wayne Independent for more than a half-century.

One of the most notable achievements in his illustrious career came in 1972 when he authored the seminal book: Wayne County Sports History. This exhaustively researched volume covered the first 100 years of local athletics.

Not surprisingly, a significant portion of the text focuses on the history of football in Wayne County.

According to Sutton’s research, the very first organized game was played on October 23, 1895 between Honesdale and Carbondale. The visitors from the Pioneer City defeated their hosts by a score of 18-2.

Local fans were apparently captivated by the new sport and within five years football had become a fixture in Honesdale.

The November 29, 1899 edition of The Independent recounts an exciting Thanksgiving Day battle against Carbondale that ended with an 11-0 victory for Honesdale. Arthur Robertson tallied both touchdowns, which were worth just five points each back then.

At the height of its early popularity, high school football became a local Thanksgiving Day tradition. During the 1910s and ‘20s, there were even “doubleheaders” played, one game in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Not long after that, though, the sport suffered a severe setback when the school board banned it due to “excessive violence.” And so, following a Thanksgiving Day game in 1929, football disappeared from the local scene for nearly two decades.

It made a brief return in 1946 via a Thanksgiving Day revival with a well-attended game between White Mills and Hawley.

However, another 22 years would pass before high school football came back for good … thanks to the arrival of a former collegiate grid star.

Here come the Hornets

Allen “Butch” Keller was the very first football coach hired by Honesdale.

Keller was a star running back at Tunkhannock who then went on to play at Bucknell and Mansfield. He brought with him two years of coaching experience as a college assistant.

“I was just a dummy right out of college who thought he knew everything,” Butch said with a laugh. “They gave me $600 to start the program from scratch. And I mean from scratch because we didn't have anything.”

Honesdale fielded a JV squad in 1968 and more than 30 kids came out for the team. There was no field, no practice facility, no pads, helmets or uniforms.

“We actually had to lease equipment that first year,” Butch said. “The unis were plain white, nothing fancy. So, we got the home ec department to stencil 'Hornets' onto the backs and used magic markers to add numbers.”

Honesdale groped its way through that first year, playing a mostly JV slate. However, by the fall of 1969, the Hornets were ready for prime time … an historic season that ended with a truly grande finale.

Thanksgiving Day tradition

Honesdale hosted the last game of its first true varsity season on Thanksgiving Day against Weatherly High School.

The Wreckers came into this one undefeated, but were totally overwhelmed by a fired-up Hornet squad.

“They kind of thought they were hot stuff,” Coach Keller recalled. “And they were a pretty good team. But, I don't think they were ready for us because we played our best game of the year.”

Gary Doherty provided the spark early on when he fielded a punt on his own 37 and rocketed 63 yards to paydirt. Doherty's scintillating return brought the crowd of 1,100 to its feet and set the tone for the rest of the game.

Dave Tighe earned the start at quarterback in this one with Richie Hessling at wingback. Tighe found him in the end zone for the two-point conversion, giving Honesdale an 8-0 lead it never relinquished.

It was all Doherty on the next drive, which started when he intercepted a Weatherly passed. Three plays later, he was back in the Wreckers' end zone on a 53-yard TD reception.

Tighe made it 16-0 at intermission when he ran in the conversion try.

Hessling got back in the act after the break, picking off another Weatherly pass and racing 60 yards for a touchdown. Doherty, a master of versatility, then booted the PAT to push Honesdale's lead to 23-0.

The Hornets' final drive of the 1969 season featured running backs George Ferrer and Jerry Dunne powering the ball all the way to Weatherly's 1-yard line.

Hessling capped the march with his second TD of the game, bringing the final score to 29-0.

“Playing high school football at Honesdale was a dream come true,” Richie said. “All these years later I still get a little choked up thinking about it. Those guys were the best. I loved playing with them and I'll never forget our experiences.”

Eleven seniors played the final game of their high school football career that cold Thanksgiving Day against Weatherly: Richie Hessling, Gary Doherty, Dave Tighe, Tom Hollister, Steve Miller, Ted Murray, Chuck Fives, Dan Carroll, Gary Stinnard, Glenn Hunt, Bob Ordnung.

“That was a pretty good Thanksgiving Day,” Coach Keller said in his usual understated way.

Back to the future

As it turned out there were many more “pretty good days” to come under Keller's leadership.

Honesdale's Hall of Fame skipper racked up nearly 200 wins during his tenure as head coach. Perhaps the most remembered of those are a 7-6 playoff victory over Danville in 1980 and an electrifying comeback win over Blue Mountain in the 1983 Eastern Conference semifinals.

Sadly, times have changed and events like Thanksgiving Day high school football have faded into the mists of history.

Nowadays, Honesdale's season ends in late October. By mid-November, most folks are already focused on winter sports with football just a fading memory.

It's fun to sit back and remember those thrilling games of yesteryear, though, along with the gridiron heroes who once made high school football an integral part of Thanksgiving Day here in Wayne County.

This article originally appeared on Tri-County Independent: High school football is a local holiday tradition in Wayne County