Rochester Area High School (Pennsylvania)
Encyclopedia
Rochester Area Junior-Senior High School is a secondary education
school located in Rochester, Pennsylvania
. Founded in 1890, it is one of the oldest high schools in the entire state of Pennsylvania
. With a current student enrollment of approximately 450 students, Rochester Area Junior-Senior High School is also one of the smallest secondary schools in Pennsylvania. Located in the heart of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, at the confluence of the Ohio and Beaver rivers, (approximately 25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh and 15 miles from the Ohio state line,) Rochester Area School District has a total K-12 enrollment of approximately 950 students. Over 90% of Pennsylvania school districts are larger. Rochester Area School District comprises the three small municipalities of Rochester Borough, East Rochester Borough and Rochester Township. Formerly known as "the hub of Beaver county", Rochester is in the center of a formerly heavily industrial area best known for its steel mills. Like many small towns in the "Rust Belt", the Rochester community is plagued by economic distress, an aging population, deteriorating infrastructure, and the exodus of many young people upon graduation from high school.
Despite these facts, in 2008, Rochester Area High School was named as one of the Best High Schools in the United States by U.S. News and World Report, receiving a Bronze Medal. It was one of only 44 high school across Pennsylvania (out of over 600) to receive this honor. Enrollment information and academic data from over 21,000 public high school across the country were anazlyzed by U.S. News and World Report to determine the very best high schools in the United States. The top schools were placed into gold, silver, bronze and honorable mention categories.
in 1964. The musical was directed by legendary Chorus and Musical director Mr. Philip Inman. It was reported that the high school auditorium was standing-room only for the musical's opening night.
Famous alumni of Rochester Area School District include Olympic athlete Lauryn Williams
, and football players Kris Griffin
and Babe Parilli
.
Another little known fact is that Rochester was the childhood hometown of pop star Christina Aguilera
. She attended Rochester Area Elementary School before moving to the North Allegheny School District.
. The high school football team won the WPIAL Class A Championship in 1916, 1991, 1992, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2004, and went on to win the PIAA Class A Championship in 1998, 2000, and 2001. The 1998 season is best remembered, as the team finished the season undefeated 15-0. Mr. Gene Matsook has served as head coach since 2000, and his brother, Dr. Daniel Matsook, served as the head coach from 1985–1999. Dr. Matsook is now the superintendent of the Central Valley School District. The Matsooks have established a well known football legacy throughout the state of Pennsylvania.
Rochester Area, whose mascot is the Rams, shares a rivalry with another small Beaver County school - South Side Beaver High School. Since both schools use the ram as a mascot, the annual football game is known as the "Battle of the Rams". This rivalry is somewhat one-sided, with Rochester Area usually winning over the consistently weaker South Side team.
The school is known as the home to Olympic
track star Lauryn Williams
, who set many school and state records in track.
The school also won the 1983 PIAA Class AA Men's Basketball Championship.
high school football with rival Monaca High School, located in Monaca
just across the Ohio River
. The two schools played in the annual Battle of the Bridge, in which the winner has their name listed first on the Rochester-Monaca Bridge
for a year. The rivalry is so well-known that it is featured at the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum.
The rivalry also led to the two schools meeting in the playoffs on several occasions. In 1998 and 2000, both schools met at Three Rivers Stadium
to determine the WPIAL champion, with Rochester winning both times. When the two teams did meet in the postseason, the Rochester-Monaca Bridge was not on the line, as that year's results were already determined.
On occasion, the football rivalry would spill into other sports. In 2001, the two schools met in Rochester for the first of two men's basketball
matchups for the season between the two schools. Near the end of the game, a fight erupted in the stands, with several people arrested. To prevent another incident for the second game at Monaca, only school administrators were allowed at that game, as fans, cheerleaders, and even parents of the athletes were not allowed at the game. Fans were allowed at future games after that season.
With the recent merger of the Monaca and Center Area School Districts into the newly formed Central Valley School District, the year 2009 marked the final season that Monaca High School will exist and field a football team. Consequently, 2009 was the last season in which the "Battle of the Bridge" between Rochester Area and Monaca will take place. This game took place on Saturday, October 31, 2009, in which the Rams won 28-0. The game was given national attention by the Great American Rivalry Series, which is sponsored by the United States Air Force
, with Rochester Stadium reportedly having a standing-room only attendance of 11,000 fans witnessing the final game of a great rivalry.
The new Central Valley High School will be a Class AAA school while Rochester will remain as a Class A school, meaning the 2 teams would most likely never play each other. The permanent name of the bridge will be "Rochester-Monaca" on the Rochester side and "Monaca-Rochester" on the Monaca side.
Once Monaca High School ceases to exist, the Ram's new rival will most likely be the Western Beaver High School Golden Beavers. Western Beaver is another small Beaver County school whose football team is an annual contender for the WPIAL playoffs.
Secondary education
Secondary education is the stage of education following primary education. Secondary education includes the final stage of compulsory education and in many countries it is entirely compulsory. The next stage of education is usually college or university...
school located in Rochester, Pennsylvania
Rochester, Pennsylvania
Rochester is a borough in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located northwest of Pittsburgh, it is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 4,014 at the 2000 census....
. Founded in 1890, it is one of the oldest high schools in the entire state of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. With a current student enrollment of approximately 450 students, Rochester Area Junior-Senior High School is also one of the smallest secondary schools in Pennsylvania. Located in the heart of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, at the confluence of the Ohio and Beaver rivers, (approximately 25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh and 15 miles from the Ohio state line,) Rochester Area School District has a total K-12 enrollment of approximately 950 students. Over 90% of Pennsylvania school districts are larger. Rochester Area School District comprises the three small municipalities of Rochester Borough, East Rochester Borough and Rochester Township. Formerly known as "the hub of Beaver county", Rochester is in the center of a formerly heavily industrial area best known for its steel mills. Like many small towns in the "Rust Belt", the Rochester community is plagued by economic distress, an aging population, deteriorating infrastructure, and the exodus of many young people upon graduation from high school.
Despite these facts, in 2008, Rochester Area High School was named as one of the Best High Schools in the United States by U.S. News and World Report, receiving a Bronze Medal. It was one of only 44 high school across Pennsylvania (out of over 600) to receive this honor. Enrollment information and academic data from over 21,000 public high school across the country were anazlyzed by U.S. News and World Report to determine the very best high schools in the United States. The top schools were placed into gold, silver, bronze and honorable mention categories.
Interesting facts
Rochester Area High School is well known for being the first high school in the United States to show the musical My Fair LadyMy Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
in 1964. The musical was directed by legendary Chorus and Musical director Mr. Philip Inman. It was reported that the high school auditorium was standing-room only for the musical's opening night.
Famous alumni of Rochester Area School District include Olympic athlete Lauryn Williams
Lauryn Williams
Lauryn Williams is a track and field sprint athlete, competing internationally for the United States...
, and football players Kris Griffin
Kris Griffin
Kristofor Lawrence Griffin is an American football linebacker for the Las Vegas Locomotives of the United Football League. He was originally signed by the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2005...
and Babe Parilli
Babe Parilli
-Biography:Parilli was born in the Pittsburgh industrial suburb of Rochester, Pennsylvania. He attended the University of Kentucky as an All-American starting quarterback for the Wildcats under Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant....
.
Another little known fact is that Rochester was the childhood hometown of pop star Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...
. She attended Rochester Area Elementary School before moving to the North Allegheny School District.
Design
Rochester Area School District is unique in that all grades (K-12) are housed in one large academic complex. The Elementary School is separated from the Jr.-Sr. High School by a common area that includes the district's K-12 library , a little theatre and several cafeterias. This design enables faculty, administration and students to interact with one another on a daily basis.Academics
Despite its small enrollment, Rochester Area High School offers a rigorous academic environment and is building a reputation for academic excellence among small schools, as evidenced by the recent Bronze Medal award from U.S. News and World Report. The school offers many required and elective courses that are not offered by small schools of similar size in the state including German I-IV. Physics, Chemistry, Calculus, Statistics and Probability, English, The Holocaust, Mutimedia and Computer Graphics, Web Page Design, Theatre, Music History, Music Theory, Humanities, Marriage and Family Living, Painting and Printmaking and Drawing and Graphic Design. The school also has a cooperative program with Penn State, Beaver Campus, that enables upperclassmen to take college level classes for credit. In addition, Rochester Area High School is one of the few schools in the region that requires students to earn 30 credits prior to graduation. There are no study halls at Rochester.Athletics
Rochester Area is well known for its success in athletics, particularly footballAmerican football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
. The high school football team won the WPIAL Class A Championship in 1916, 1991, 1992, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2004, and went on to win the PIAA Class A Championship in 1998, 2000, and 2001. The 1998 season is best remembered, as the team finished the season undefeated 15-0. Mr. Gene Matsook has served as head coach since 2000, and his brother, Dr. Daniel Matsook, served as the head coach from 1985–1999. Dr. Matsook is now the superintendent of the Central Valley School District. The Matsooks have established a well known football legacy throughout the state of Pennsylvania.
Rochester Area, whose mascot is the Rams, shares a rivalry with another small Beaver County school - South Side Beaver High School. Since both schools use the ram as a mascot, the annual football game is known as the "Battle of the Rams". This rivalry is somewhat one-sided, with Rochester Area usually winning over the consistently weaker South Side team.
The school is known as the home to Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
track star Lauryn Williams
Lauryn Williams
Lauryn Williams is a track and field sprint athlete, competing internationally for the United States...
, who set many school and state records in track.
The school also won the 1983 PIAA Class AA Men's Basketball Championship.
Battle of the Bridge
The football team played in one of the most notable rivalries in Western PennsylvaniaWestern Pennsylvania
Western Pennsylvania consists of the western third of the state of Pennsylvania in the United States. Pittsburgh is the largest city in the region, with a metropolitan area population of about 2.4 million people, and serves as its economic and cultural center. Erie, Altoona, and Johnstown are its...
high school football with rival Monaca High School, located in Monaca
Monaca, Pennsylvania
Monaca is a borough in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States along the Ohio River, northwest of Pittsburgh. Monaca was first incorporated as Phillipsburg in 1840, and had been known by that name since the 1820s. In 1892, the name of the borough was changed to Monaca in honor of the Native...
just across the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
. The two schools played in the annual Battle of the Bridge, in which the winner has their name listed first on the Rochester-Monaca Bridge
Rochester-Monaca Bridge
The Monaca–Rochester Bridge is a steel through continuous truss bridge which crosses the Ohio River between Monaca, Pennsylvania and Rochester, Pennsylvania. It opened in 1986 and is the third bridge to occupy the site...
for a year. The rivalry is so well-known that it is featured at the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum.
The rivalry also led to the two schools meeting in the playoffs on several occasions. In 1998 and 2000, both schools met at Three Rivers Stadium
Three Rivers Stadium
Three Rivers Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1970 to 2000. It was home to the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Pittsburgh Steelers, the city's Major League Baseball franchise and National Football League franchise respectively.Built as a replacement to...
to determine the WPIAL champion, with Rochester winning both times. When the two teams did meet in the postseason, the Rochester-Monaca Bridge was not on the line, as that year's results were already determined.
On occasion, the football rivalry would spill into other sports. In 2001, the two schools met in Rochester for the first of two men's basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
matchups for the season between the two schools. Near the end of the game, a fight erupted in the stands, with several people arrested. To prevent another incident for the second game at Monaca, only school administrators were allowed at that game, as fans, cheerleaders, and even parents of the athletes were not allowed at the game. Fans were allowed at future games after that season.
With the recent merger of the Monaca and Center Area School Districts into the newly formed Central Valley School District, the year 2009 marked the final season that Monaca High School will exist and field a football team. Consequently, 2009 was the last season in which the "Battle of the Bridge" between Rochester Area and Monaca will take place. This game took place on Saturday, October 31, 2009, in which the Rams won 28-0. The game was given national attention by the Great American Rivalry Series, which is sponsored by the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
, with Rochester Stadium reportedly having a standing-room only attendance of 11,000 fans witnessing the final game of a great rivalry.
The new Central Valley High School will be a Class AAA school while Rochester will remain as a Class A school, meaning the 2 teams would most likely never play each other. The permanent name of the bridge will be "Rochester-Monaca" on the Rochester side and "Monaca-Rochester" on the Monaca side.
Once Monaca High School ceases to exist, the Ram's new rival will most likely be the Western Beaver High School Golden Beavers. Western Beaver is another small Beaver County school whose football team is an annual contender for the WPIAL playoffs.
Notable alumni
- Babe ParilliBabe Parilli-Biography:Parilli was born in the Pittsburgh industrial suburb of Rochester, Pennsylvania. He attended the University of Kentucky as an All-American starting quarterback for the Wildcats under Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant....
- 1957 graduate, former American Football LeagueAmerican Football LeagueThe American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...
player and Arena Football League coach - Kris GriffinKris GriffinKristofor Lawrence Griffin is an American football linebacker for the Las Vegas Locomotives of the United Football League. He was originally signed by the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2005...
- 1999 graduate, linebackerLinebackerA linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...
of the Cleveland BrownsCleveland BrownsThe Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, member of the undefeated 1998 state championship football team. - Lauryn WilliamsLauryn WilliamsLauryn Williams is a track and field sprint athlete, competing internationally for the United States...
- 2001 graduate, OlympicOlympic GamesThe Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
silver medalist in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Competed in the 2008 Olympic Games in BeijingBeijingBeijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
. - Derek MoyeDerek MoyeDerek Moye is an American football wide receiver, currently playing college football for Penn State.-Early years:...
- 2007 graduate, wide receiver for Penn State 2007-present. In 2009, Moye ranked ninth in the Big Ten in receiving yardage at 60.4 ypg and his 16.4-yard average per catch was second-highest among the conference's top 10 receivers