Welcome to Penny Weichel's Oil City, Pa., High School Web site, dedicated to accumulating information, both past and present, on the Oilers.
Last updated: 4.18.08
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2007 Season
What's new
They're three of the best-known athletes to come out of Oil City, and the school honored two of them, first-team all-staters Jim Shaughnessy (football) and Dutch Burch (basketball) in 1996. The school has retired their numbers -- Shaughnessy's No. 68 in football and Burch's No. 36 in hoops. (Burch also starred in football for the Oilers.) The Derrick carried stories about both of them before they were honored. Read about them here:
Meanwhile, three-time state champion Charlie Winger marked his 50th anniversary for winning the mile and 880 in 2005. Read about it here:
By the way, even though Burch and Winger starred in other sports, both played football for the Oilers.
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2008 Schedule
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Aug. 16
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Bradford (scimmage)
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11 a.m.
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Aug. 22
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at Northwestern (scrimmage)
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6 p.m.
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Aug. 29
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at Meadville
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7 p.m.
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Sept. 5
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Slippery Rock
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7 p.m.
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Sept. 12
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Sharon
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7 p.m.
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Sept. 19
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at Wilmington
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7 p.m.
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Sept. 26
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Titusville
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7 p.m.
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Oct. 3
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at Greenville
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7 p.m.
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Oct. 10
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at Franklin
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7 p.m.
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Oct. 17
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Eisenhower
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7 p.m.
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Oct. 24
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Hickory
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7 p.m.
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Oct. 31
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at Reynolds
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7 p.m.
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New old stuff added
Check out the 1931-35 seasons in the Year-by-year records link for some new old photos and materials that have been added. Tom Szafran, son of the late Joe Szafran, lent me his dad's scrapbooks to look through. More old programs have been added to the Rivalries section. So check that out, too. The photo above was taken during the 1934 season.
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Matt LaVerde named
new Oilers coach
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Photo by Jerry Sowden/The Derrick
Former Oilers standout Matt LaVerde was the unanimous choice of the Oil City Area School Board on Jan. 28 to succeed Bill Heber as the district’s varsity football coach.
LaVerde, who has been an assistant coach at Franklin High School six out of the last seven seasons, beat out six other local, regional and out-of-state applicants for the job. “It was a very strong pool,” said superintendent Joe Carrico.
“Obviously, I played at Oil City and it’s an honor to get a chance to coach there,” said LaVerde, a math teacher in the Valley Grove School District. “I’m following two great coaches in Paul Stamm and Bill Heber; they coached me and it’s an honor to follow them.”
LaVerde was an all-conference player for the Oilers in 1995, and then went to Penn State where he continued his football career as a preferred walk-on. He wound up at perennial NCAA Division III power Mount Union, where he was an all-conference middle linebacker in 2000 for the Purple Raiders’ fifth national championship team. He also made the academic all-conference team that season.
LaVerde served as defensive coordinator at Franklin for the 2001 and 2002 seasons under his brother, Tiger. He was an assistant coach at Washington & Jefferson College in 2003, before returning to Franklin for another stint as defensive coordinator in 2004, this time under Dave Smith.
When Tiger LaVerde took another head coaching job in Ohio in 2005, Matt became the Knights’ offensive coordinator, serving in that capacity through last season.
So now it’s back to Oil City.
“It’s a great opportunity, and hopefully, it will be a long relationship,” he said. “We’ll have to work hard to make it a successful one.”
The Oilers were 3-7 last season, but won the last three and have a host of returning starters, and some good, young talent coming up – including the sons of Heber and Stamm.
“I’m looking forward to coaching their sons who are coming up through the program,” LaVerde said.
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Zach Smith
2nd team OL
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Andrew Fritz
2nd team LB
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Chris Fox
2nd team DB
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Photo by Jerry Sowden/The Derrick
Bill Henderson grinds out some yardage against Warren as the Oilers posted their biggest win of the season. The senior was the team's leading rusher and one of its top tacklers.
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Outlook for 2007
Bill Heber resigns as Oilers coach