By Matt Smith
Roaming the sidelines of the South Avenue Athletic Complex last Friday night, my appreciation for high school football was renewed.
No, it wasn’t because I had grown tired of covering the sport. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. In this profession, there is high school football … and there is everything else. Covering games feels like a big event, no matter if it’s between two teams playing for a district title or two teams simply playing for pride. From stat-keeping, to tweeting live updates and interviewing players and coaches, few jobs are cooler than covering high school football.
But sometimes you have to stop and smell the roses. I couldn’t help but admire the two coaches whose teams I covered on this late-August night. Strath Haven’s Kevin Clancy and Interboro’s Steve Lennox are, respectively, the Nos. 1 and 2 in coaching victories in Delaware County history. In an era of spread offenses and no-huddles, the coaching legends have largely stuck with what’s made them so successful. Sure, to a certain extent they have adapted with the time, but Clancy and Lennox remain old-school to the bone.
It’s refreshing to see the masters at work.
