None — By Chris Harlan from our newspaper exchange partner the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Center's Curtis Lewis and Monaca's Matt Bradford could have become bitter rivals when their high schools merged this summer, forcing the two junior quarterbacks to compete for one starting job.
They easily could have divided the new Central Valley football team.
The players from Center would have backed Lewis, who showed promise as a sophomore. And the Monaca kids were loyal to Bradford, who became that school's starter as a freshman.
But that's not what happened.
Lewis and Bradford instead saw an opportunity to bring teammates together.
"I knew that if we could get along, I'm pretty sure everyone will pick up on that and then they will get along," said Lewis, who arrived at a summer workout wearing his favorite Center T-shirt turned inside out. "I wanted to show this isn't Center anymore, this is Central Valley. We need to become a team."
Central Valley will open its first football camp at Sarge Alberts Stadium on Monday when high school teams in Pennsylvania are allowed to begin practice for the upcoming season. Coach Mark Lyons expects 68 players for camp, with about 60 percent from Center and 40 percent from Monaca.
There were critics and doubters but — at least on the football field — the merger has gone smoother than most expected.
"When we found out we were going to merge, we said, 'Why? We don't even like the Center kids,'" Bradford said, with a laugh. "But we've turned out to be a really good team. Everyone is getting along a lot better than I thought we would."
Central Valley joins the Class AAA Parkway Conference, an eight-team conference that includes defending WPIAL champion West Allegheny and runner-up Hopewell.
Both Center and Monaca were playoff teams a year ago, so expectations remain high. Center (9-2 in Class AA) tied for first place in the Midwestern Conference title with Aliquippa and Beaver Falls in 2009. Monaca (5-5 in Class A) was tied for third in the Big Seven Conference.
"Center had some talent, and we (Monaca) had some talent," Bradford said, "so together I think we could be an excellent team."
Planning for this merger began more than four years ago. The process was slow and difficult, having to account for everything from merging school boards and classrooms to picking new school colors (Navy and Carolina blues) and a nickname (Warriors).
Some thought the process would never end.
"I've heard since the sixth grade that this merger was supposed to happen, but I never thought it would," Lewis said. "It was a shock to me when it finally did."
The first major step was taken before last school year, when Center and Monaca elementary schools merged. This fall, the upper grades will combine, with the high school students using what was Center's high school building. The middle school students will use Monaca's former high school.
For athletics, the administration chose to open all coaching positions.
Lyons, a Monaca native with family ties to Center Township, was hired in January as football coach. He coached last season at Freedom and also spent time at Mount Pleasant and Monaca, leading the Indians to three straight WPIAL Class A title games in 1998-2000.
From the day he was hired, Lyons said, he felt as though he had to be part football coach and part salesman.
"You're telling 16- and 17-year-old kids that the school they've been at their whole life is gone," Lyons said. "You're not going to get to graduate from the school that your parents graduated from, and maybe their grandparents did, too. That's hard."
Monaca has a football history that includes WPIAL titles in 1975, '82 and '85.
Lyons' players were still attending separate schools when he pulled them together for joint workout sessions last winter, which at times caused some friction.
"Some of the kids were having trouble getting to know one another and started fights, but that's never going to solve anything," Lewis said. "You're just going to hate the person even more.
"I sat down with some of the guys and told them we need to come together," Lewis said. "There are younger kids coming up who want to play for Central Valley someday. If they see us fighting, that's just going to tear them down."
When Lyons took his players to a camp at California (Pa.) University, he made room assignments that paired a Center player with one from Monaca. That forced even the staunchest opponents to socialize with the other side.
"I was probably the biggest guy against this merger," said Lukas Turley, an all-conference linebacker for Center. "When I first heard about it I said, 'Why do they have to do this during my senior season?' But now some of my best friends are from Monaca."
What brought them together was lifting weights.
When the MAC weightlifting competition was held in March, Lyons had to pick a 10-member team. What surprised him was the number of other players who wanted to go support them.
So, they took a bus to Blackhawk.
"That was the first time the whole team was together cheering each other on," Turley said. "We didn't even know some of the names."
But it was easy to spot the Central Valley section in the stands.
"I looked around that night and thought, no matter if we come in first or last, it has been a success," Lyons said.
During these next few weeks, though, that camaraderie will be tested when the competition for starting spots intensifies and the old colors of Center and Monaca slowly fade when the new Central Valley shirts arrive.
Then the only remnant of the past will be the end zone turf, which still says Center. But that, too, will be gone before the season begins.
Those changes don't sadden Lewis.
"I'd rather play for Central Valley because Center has already been there," Lewis said. "Central Valley is setting history, and that's what we want to do."
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