A hidden gem on the South Side

What was the first high school game I ever saw in Western Pennsylvania• It wasn't at a legendary venue like "The Pit" in Aliquippa or Turtle Creek's Wolvarena. Instead, my first assignment took me right across the Mon River to the South Side.

Then, it was known as South Stadium -- a non-descript structure on Carson Street with an artificial turf field that was hard as a rock. I passed through a metal detector to enter the field, and this was long before 9/11. The crowd was sparse, but I discovered one of the hidden gems of high school football -- Pittsburgh's City League.

City football once was king. Teams like Westinghouse once enjoyed legendary status with coaches and players that would become synonymous with winning. But with the decline of the Pittsburgh Public Schools, football suffered. Eventually, all 10 teams moved to a single location to play their games.

While the City league often lacks the fan support and state-of-the-art training facilities enjoyed by its WPIAL counterparts, it does not lack talent or passion. Each year, you will find diamonds in the rough -- if you look closely. Curtis Martin emerged from Allderdice to be among the NFL's all-time top rushers. I saw Peabody's Kevan Barlow as a junior, never envisioning his rise to NFL stardom. Every so often, the City produces teams -- like the Perry Commodores of the late 1990s-- that beat the finest the WPIAL had to offer.

On a smaller scale, Cupples Stadium is a unique venue. From the guys working in maintenance sharing proud stories of the city's glorious past to the public address announcer, whose booming voice echoes through the stadium corridors. The best seat in the house is McArdle Road above the field, and where else can you see two games in one day at the same place?

It's one of the more intriguing sites for high school football -- and if you do go to one game there -- please check out next month's City League championship. That's when you will see Cupples Stadium in all its splendor - which means the stands will be filled.