Gene Matsook wonders whether we remember Rochester and the Rams' remarkable run of dominance.
From 1998 until 2012, Rochester won 206 games, five WPIAL titles and three PIAA championships. The Rams also finished WPIAL runners-up four times and second in the PIAA twice.
The past three seasons, Rochester had a combined 10-17 record and missed the playoffs.
“When you lose,” Matsook said, “you think as a head coach, ‘People forgot how good we were.' ”
Sto-Rox knows the feeling. The history of success dates to the 1930s, when McKees Rocks won WPIAL Class AA titles in '35 and '36 and Stowe won in '37.
When the schools merged, the Vikings won WPIAL championships in 1966 and '87, and played for titles in 2003 and three consecutive from 2011-13.
The past two years, when Sto-Rox went 2-16, made Vikings coach Jason Ruscitto realize the rebuilding job he inherited.
“Any program that goes through that reconstruction, they have kids who step onto the field before they're ready and take their licks,” Ruscitto said. “We were no different.”
What made their game different Friday night was No. 5 Rochester and host No. 4 Sto-Rox entered undefeated and sitting atop the Big Seven standings and back in the Class A rankings.
The revival of Rochester and Sto-Rox is one of the feel-good stories of this season — especially at those schools.
“You've got two great schools with a lot of great kids who came through their programs,” Matsook said. “Most programs spiral out of control and then close up. These two have come back, and that's how it should be.”
Matsook speaks from experience, as his road to championships went through now-defunct rivals like Duquesne and Monaca. Not long ago, Rochester and Sto-Rox appeared headed for a similar fate.
Both endured setbacks such as transfers to neighboring districts — Rochester losing players to Central Valley, Sto-Rox to Montour — and a talent pool that suddenly ran shallow.
“Those were key performers, and that depleted us,” Matsook said. “You lose five or six kids, and that's a team. When that happens, things go bad.”
Rochester ran to glory behind brothers like Kris and Kirby Griffin and Jermaine and Derek Moye, and Division-I recruits Nate Waldron (Bowling Green) and Nate Tucker (Connecticut).
Likewise, Sto-Rox's Adam DiMichele (2003) and Lenny Williams ('13) finished their careers as the WPIAL's career passing leader, and U.S. Army All-American Paul Jones was the quarterback in between.
The Vikings no longer have families like the DiMicheles, who provided five brothers.
“Those families, the traditions that they have in the program, often are passed on,” Ruscitto said. “When kids are around kids like that, who are so respected, it is special. Without that, it's made it more difficult and more challenging. The coaches have to tell them, ‘This is what the traditions were.' We've had to reinstitute a lot of things without having that pipeline.”
The pipeline isn't the only thing that's missing. So is the varsity experience. Both teams heavily rely on underclassmen, even if it involves starting freshmen.
Rochester had back-to-back losing seasons in 2013 and '14, Mastook's first as coach. Last year, when the Rams went 5-4, it was a turning point.
“We want to capture it back. That's the hardest thing. Can we get it going back in the right direction?” Matsook said. “That we did is a tribute to the kids. Those kids were all small. They were in like second grade when we won the championships. That's the hard part. You hope they inherit the tradition.”
For Sto-Rox, an administrative error forced the Vikings to play in Class AA the past two seasons. Ruscitto didn't use it as an excuse for back-to-back 1-8 years.
It's the first taste of success for Rochester and Sto-Rox, but the enthusiasm is back.
“I think it's just great for the community to have a buzz again,” Ruscitto said. “It's fantastic for both schools. We're both struggling communities, struggling districts.
“The kids have an extra pep in their step to play such a big game. It's great for the programs. It's a shame we have to play each other, and that one of us is going to have a loss.”
When it comes to making us remember, Rochester and Sto-Rox already have won.
Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at kgorman@tribweb.com or via Twitter @KGorman_Trib.
