route8rivalry.com/Library

Vintage Helmet and American Football Ball

route8rivalry.COM

If you are from Anywhere, USA, and happened to stumble upon this site, Franklin and Oil City are about eight miles apart along Route 8 in Venango County, Pa. -- which is about halfway between Pittsburgh and Erie in the western part of the state.

Penny Weichel, site editor

pennyweichel@yahoo.com

Covering high school football in Venango County, Pa.

Pure Gold: Redbank Valley defies all odds to reach state title game

Penny Weichel

5 days ago
4 min

Pure Gold: Redbank Valley defies all odds to reach state title game

What an incredible story Redbank Valley is. In case you don't know (and you possibly don't), Redbank is located in southern Clarion...

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Early '70s Knights dominated grid scene with two perfect years

Penny Weichel

Aug 28
5 min

Early '70s Knights dominated grid scene with two perfect years

The only way a high school football team can accomplish what the Franklin Knights did 50 years ago is to win the state championship –...

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Celebrating some forgotten Oil City sports heroes.

Penny Weichel

Aug 20
6 min

Celebrating some forgotten Oil City sports heroes.

(This article appeared in the Aug. 20, 2021, editions of The Derrick and The News-Herald.) This is a piece dedicated to Oil City’s...

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Pat Patterson's "unmean" machine of 1975

Penny Weichel

Jul 24
4 min

Pat Patterson's "unmean" machine of 1975

Oilers hoist Pat Patterson after beating Franklin. --- One thing about the Oil City community: it loves its high school football...

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Does he or doesn't he? We'll still probably never know

Penny Weichel

Jun 3
2 min

Does he or doesn't he? We'll still probably never know

Update as of Dec. 30: Red Law is over 2,000 career yards rushing -- and still counting. As I said on Dec. 17 in this space, I'm not...

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100ish years ago: Oil City, Franklin hoop it up

Penny Weichel

Mar 10
4 min

100ish years ago: Oil City, Franklin hoop it up

I stand corrected. For years I believed – and told anyone who would listen – that Oil City never won a district championship in boys...

26 views0 comments

100 Years Ago: Both Oil City and Franklin had their moments

Penny Weichel

Mar 1
3 min

100 Years Ago: Both Oil City and Franklin had their moments

The football seasons for both Oil City and Franklin in 1920 – 100 years ago -- were fairly unspectacular, record-wise. Oil City started...

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February 2021: 50-year anniversary of 50-point games by Oil City's Mike Emick and VC's Mark Garbacz

Penny Weichel

Feb 2
4 min

February 2021: 50-year anniversary of 50-point games by Oil City's Mike Emick and VC's Mark Garbacz

February marks the 50-year anniversary of two of the three highest scoring individual games in Venango County history, including the...

33 views0 comments

Andrew Burda...Al Foster...Jimmy Johns...

Penny Weichel

Jan 26
3 min

Andrew Burda...Al Foster...Jimmy Johns...

I wrote a piece that soon will be in The Derrick/The News Herald about Mike Emick and Mark Garbacz and their scoring heroics 50 years ago...

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Ted Marchibroda: Way ahead of his time in high school

Penny Weichel

Jan 10
3 min

Ted Marchibroda: Way ahead of his time in high school

Ted Marchibroda was a football player ahead of his time when he quarterbacked the Franklin Nurserymen from 1946-48. Everybody knows he...

7 views0 comments

Penny Weichel

Dec 4, 2020
4 min

6 Oiler seniors leave with records

Sean Stack, Dakota Cole, Zac Kiefer, Holden Stahl and Cam Russell gather around the Route 8 Rivalry trophy. (This article originally...

16 views0 comments

Penny Weichel

Nov 27, 2020
4 min

1933 season -- just because

So let’s start where the season ended – Nov. 11, 1933. Franklin vs. Oil City at Miller-Sibley Field. The Nursery – as the Knights were...

5 views0 comments

Penny Weichel

Nov 25, 2020
4 min

108-0: Not as bad as it looks

Nov. 17, 1928. The day that lives in infamy in Oil City High School football annals. Sharon 108, Oil City 0. “Defeat Worst Sustained in...

95 views0 comments

Penny Weichel

Nov 25, 2020
3 min

60ish years ago: FHS juggernauts Part 2

This marks the 60-year anniversary of not only a third straight Section 2 championship for Franklin, but the school’s first first team...

4 views0 comments

OC, Franklin had their moments 100 years ago in 1920

Penny Weichel

Nov 22, 2020
3 min

OC, Franklin had their moments 100 years ago in 1920

The football seasons for both Oil City and Franklin in 1920 – 100 years ago -- were fairly unspectacular, record-wise. Oil City started...

77 views0 comments

Penny Weichel

Nov 18, 2020
4 min

60ish years ago: FHS juggernauts Part I

Franklin was among the elite in District 10 football, for about 35 years, beginning in the late 1950s when Jim McCullough became coach....

26 views0 comments

Penny Weichel

Nov 4, 2020
2 min

Just hit me: Oilers 4-0 in D-10 title games

(This article appeared in the Nov. 4. 2020, edition of The Derrick and The News Herald.) Just hit me Tuesday morning: Oil City is 4-0 in...

9 views0 comments

1920s Oilers football star faced racism in college

Penny Weichel

Oct 20, 2020
6 min

1920s Oilers football star faced racism in college

(This article was published as an Out of the Archives feature in the Oct. 20, 2020, editions of The Derrick and The News-Herald.) On Oct....

11 views0 comments

Judith O. Etzel

Oct 2, 2020
4 min

Tackling a Dream

This article appeared in the Oct. 2, 2020, edition of The Derrick. The familiar encouragement of "you go, girl!" ought to be lettered on...

7 views0 comments

Ed Brannon

Oct 2, 2020
2 min

Doing the Heavy Lifting

This story first appeared in the Aug. 12, 2020, edition of The Derrick. Following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, Oil...

16 views0 comments