December 18, 2015
Hersheypark Stadium (Capacity: 15,641)
Hershey, PA
Cathedral Prep Ramblers vs Imhotep Charter Panthers
Final Score: 3 – 40
* The stadium no longer hosts consistent sporting events
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Since 1998, the site of all Pennsylvania state championships in the sport of football has been Hershey, the well-suited small town in the center of the state. The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) breaks down schools into four even classifications, from A (smallest) to AAAA (largest), though this will increase to six in 2016. After the 12 District Championships are complete, the state playoffs follow and then Championship Weekend for each classification takes place in mid-December. I made my first trip to a high school playoff venue for the AAA title game on a Friday Night between two schools at opposite ends of the state: Cathedral Prep from Erie and Imhotep Charter from Philly. Located 12 miles outside of Harrisburg, Hershey has a population of just 14,000. However, add a couple zeros to that number for the amount of visitors as the home of the famous chocolate company is also a tourist destination with attractions aplenty. This makes for an attractive host to sporting events and Hersheypark Stadium has stood since 1939, entertaining a wide variety of fans for both sports and entertainment. A championship being decided should always be an event to look forward to, but this was not a great event for me because of the cold, the idiot parents and the very sloppy play on the field.
Prestige Ranking: 2 out of 5
Location
At the center of attractions in the town is Hersheypark, a huge amusement park that draws big summer crowds. The stadium is right next door and even though the state championships are held in its offseason, the park is still open with Christmas Candylane (featuring lighted rides, skating and Santa). Across the parking lot from the stadium is Chocolate World, a free and interactive look at how the Hershey factory operates. Also within the whole complex, the old arena still stands and the gleaming Giant Center, where the AHL’s Bears play, is located at the other end. It’s hard to run out of things to do as Hershey Gardens and the Hershey Museum are excellent alternatives. The heart of town is Chocolate Ave and it is along this road where most of the restaurants can be found (though I recommend nearby Hotel Hershey up on the hill for their awesome chocolate desserts). You do need a car to reach the main strip through town.
Location Ranking: 8.5 out of 10
Accessibility / Parking
It takes about 10 minutes to reach Hershey from I-81 to the North or 15-25 minutes from the Pennsylvania Turnpike to the South. Depending on the route, some dark country roads may be needed to reach town, but once in Hershey, it’s pretty easy to find the park entrance to the stadium off of Rt. 743. Though it’s a mass of roads and drives within the complex, signs to the facility are quite clear. The stadium is on the west side of the park and acres of parking lots are available. Since the crowds to the football games are relatively small, traffic flow after the event is fine. However, during concerts, this place can become a chaotic mess as people try to leave for home.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 7.5 out of 8
Exterior
Each sideline features the same look…a series of arched columns with an off-white color to the separating beams and top wall. The labels “West Stand” and “East Stand” are stamped on at the end. Both end zones are open, however on the south end, there is a small brick building that has about 20 ticket windows. Up above is a logo for the stadium and an old-style event sign. Even though the look is disjointed, historic elements enhance the entrance.
Exterior Ranking: 5.5 out of 10
Concourse
Expect a heavy security check before entering the stadium, including a passage through metal detectors. Be aware that once passing security, fans can not leave the stadium or walk behind the end zones to go to the other side. For nearly all fans this is not a big deal as the other side is an exact replica, however for me, it meant no pictures from the east perspective (I had to get creative to accomplish that goal). The concourse underneath the seating bowl is covered by the seats above and the pavement walking area is adequate for the number of fans at the games. Directional signs are good, but the bathrooms are small and I’m sure port-a-potties are needed for concerts held here.
Concourse Ranking: 1.5 out of 5
Food
There are some picnic tables around, along with food stands that look like they came from a carnival (complete with colorful script and bright lights). Food includes the basics like hot dogs, burgers, sausage, chicken strips, fries and various snacks. Funnel Cake is a nice treat and the availability of coffee and hot cocoa was more than welcomed on this cold night.
Food Ranking: 3 out of 8
Interior
Openings from the concourse place fans at field level and a few stairs are climbed to get to the seats. Because of this, an open row before the stairs is needed to be wheelchair-accessible. The stadium is as plain as it gets with a set of stands on each sideline. The stands are based in concrete, while seats are in the form of a light, blue bleacher (except for a few chairbacks in the middle of the west side). Those bleachers are a bit more tolerable since they are not completely aluminum. Numbers are painted on to the bleachers and each row has almost 35 seats. Slope is not the greatest as fans directly in front can get in the way of the field view, except maybe near the top of the stadium where the design starts curving upward a bit more. The other oddity is how the stands are off-center with Sections 1 (West) and 32 (east) extending well past the endzone (the other ends stop in the middle of the other endzone). This can also be seen with the press box on the west sideline, which is centered at the 40-yard line. Weird. Ends are open, but the north section does include a stage and the metal structure has a “Hersheypark Stadium” sign at the top. Looking in this direction is nice during the day because the beautiful Milton Hershey School building is visible up on the hill and the lawn in front has a design that spells out “Welcome to Hershey”. Other stadium surroundings are cool as well with the amusement park nearby. At night, the rides are lit up and make for a nice backdrop. These few features enhance an otherwise plain stadium.
Interior Ranking: 5 out of 14
Scoreboard
There is only one scoreboard, which must be annoying to the team heading towards the north end zone as all they have is a play clock. The board near the ground at the other end is small and contains the typical game information. The top third of the board features the stadium name and a dot matrix screen that was only noticeable for the “Touchdown” flashing graphic.
Scoreboard Ranking: 1.5 out of 4
Displays
76 years of stadium history and 18 years of state championships apparently mean very little. Except for the limited things that said “PIAA”, there was nothing.
Displays Ranking: 0 out of 6
Cost
Parking was free and tickets cost $8, which included both the afternoon and evening game. Nice deal. The program cost $5 while concessions were on the higher side ($4 for a soda at a high school game? $1 for Hershey’s Chocolate syrup to go on your funnel cake! really?). Burgers were $6.50 while a chicken strips and fries combo cost $9. A hot dog though was just $2.50.
Cost Ranking: 7.5 out of 8
Fan Support
There are very few neutrals who attend the State Championships, so the crowd is almost completely comprised of those from each high school competing. Students, parents and locals travel in great numbers to Hershey and the state of Pennsylvania is big into high school football, so the support is decent. There were 5,289 on hand for this AAA title game on a Friday Night.
Fan Support Ranking: 5 out of 8
Atmosphere
Even though the teams mostly differ each year, given the circumstances of the game, the atmosphere is pretty good. It is an interesting dynamic to have a split stadium and cheering is always confined to one side or the other. A downfall to the high school game are the few idiot, overbearing parents. They are the minority, but while sitting on the Cathedral sideline, I heard some morons yell ridiculous things. I’ve heard stories of this, but always thought they were exaggerated. Not so much as “Your son sucks” and “Break their leg” was audible. Disgustingly pathetic. Outside of these bad seeds at my game, it is an atmosphere enjoyable to admire as a neutral.
Atmosphere Ranking: 9 out of 14
Other Stuff
Hersheypark Stadium has hosted many sports through the decades and though now it is mainly known as being the home to PIAA championships, the stadium did host an Outdoor Classic in 2013 for the American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears. That special week culminated in a sold-out event against rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The stadium also hosts the Big 33 Football Classic, a high-school all-star game in the summer. Concerts are the other big attraction…..The last sporting tenant to play at the stadium was the short-lived Hershey Wildcats of soccer’s old A-League. The Stadiums maintains a spot on The List because the PIAA Championships is an annual event…..The game I attended for the AAA State Title featured two teams that were opposites in so many ways. Geographically, Cathedral Prep comes from Erie, while Imhotep Charter is in Philadelphia. Prep, a perennial District 10 power, was going for its third state title. Imhotep featured a team absolutely loaded with talent and Division I recruits (one of those was D.J. Moore). They put up 72 points in their semifinal victory and were looking to be the first Philly Public League team to win a state championship in football…..It was random, yet cool to see the “Barking Lot” near the side entrance. Turns out that they do indeed have a kennel for fans to have someone watch their pet while they are at the game.
Game
This game added another element to solidify my decision not to include high school homes as places to visit, only championship venues. Despite the talent on the field, this was a horribly sloppy game full of fumbles, dropped balls, missed tackles and even worse, injuries. The game started with a botched onside kick, then a fumble on the re-kick and then a referee getting knocked over on the next play. Cathedral Prep just couldn’t capitalize on Imhotep’s early errors and they only came away with three points despite multiple possessions in the opponent’s side of the field. The Panthers took over later in the first half and dominated the rest of the way. Mike Waters ran for 201 yards and had 3 touchdowns, while Nasier Upshur had a couple big pass completions. Maybe it was the cold and the wind, but Prep was disoriented from the start and 25 of their passes went incomplete. Imhotep won the AAA state championship 40-3, capping an undefeated season and a remarkable run.
Stadium and Arena Visits 
