Easton Area High School

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other schools of the same name, see Easton High School (disambiguation).

Easton Area High School is a four-year public high school located in Palmer Township, Northampton County, in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania. It is part of the Easton Area School District. The school's colors are red, white and black, and its mascot is the Red Rover. The current principal of Easton Area High School is William Rider, who succeeded Al Jones as principal in 2003.

1 Rivalry with Phillipsburg High School
2 School accomplishments
- 2.1 Academics
- 2.2 Athletics
  - 2.2.1 Football
  - 2.2.2 Wrestling
3 Notable alumni
4 External links

[edit] Rivalry with Phillipsburg High School

The high school is probably best known for its rivalry with Phillipsburg High School in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. The two teams play an annual Thanksgiving Day football game at Lafayette College's Fisher Field that is considered one of the nation's longest-standing high school rivalries.

The game, which typically draws in excess of 20,000 fans, has been televised on national networks. The 100th anniversary game, played in 2006 and won by Easton 21-7, was broadcast on ESPN2. Easton leads the overall series with 56 wins; Phillipsburg has 40 and the teams have tied 5 times.

[edit] School accomplishments

[edit] Academics

Easton Area High School has twice won the Scholastic Scrimmage contest (1996 and 1998), where Pennsylvania high schools compete against each other in an academic trivia contest. The team was led by Jennifer Frey, and assisted by Stephen Semanek, Sheila Viglianti and Norma Shriver.

[edit] Athletics

Easton Area High School competes in the Lehigh Valley Conference in the District XI athletic division of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association. The Current Director of Athletics is Jim Pokrivsak, who was preceded by former Easton football coach, Robert Shriver.

[edit] Football

The school is particularly known for its highly successful football and wrestling programs. All of the Rover's football games are played in legendary Cottingham Stadium off of Northampton Street in Easton's West Ward. The football team is currently coached by Steve Shiffert, who was also preceded by Robert Shriver. The Red Rovers are #2 all time in wins in Pennsylvania and are ranked #10 for wins in the country in football. Easton also has the most District XI class 4A championships in the Lehigh Valley with 5 in football.

[edit] Wrestling

Easton's wrestling program also has been ranked as the 3rd best high school program in the nation since 1991. The current coach is Steve Powell, who has at least 378 career wins and is a member of the PIAA and National High School Wrestling Halls of Fame. Easton also won four consecutive state dual meet wrestling championships in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004. The wrestling team was also ranked as the number one public school in the nation in 2004. The wrestling team's home matches are held in the Shawnee Middle School gymnasium in Forks Township.