Colts first Coal Bowl win in over 10 years

The Colts first Coal Bowl win in over 10 years

By: Arianna Farabaugh

What is the Coal Bowl?

The Coal Bowl is a football game where the two biggest rivals in Cambria County face off in a football game.The Northern Cambria Colts and The Cambria Heights Highlanders have been facing off in the rival game for over sixty-two years now. Everyone in Cambria County looks forward to the football season to watch the Colts and the Highlanders fight to win the Coal Bowl. The Junior Varsity teams even face off to see who will win the Coal Shovel that goes with the Coal Bowl.

The Last Coal Bowl Game

As you know, the Coal Bowl has been going on for many, many years now. People thought the Coal Bowl would go on forever, but that is not what happened. On November 1, 2013, the dramatic rivalry came to an end forever with Coal Bowl XLIII! This contest marks the final time due to conference rules changes. This means that the conference rules changed so that the Highlanders will never play the Colts again or they may not play for many years.

The Coal Bowl is Back!!!

After all of those years of no Coal Bowl, they finally brought it back!! On September 10, 2021, Northern Cambria Colts faced the Cambria Heights Highlanders in Patton.The Colts ended up losing to the Highlanders in this game, and the ending score was 35-0. When it came to the JV teams, Northern Cambria ended up beating Cambria Heights this game. Now in this year's game, the Colts beat the Highlanders 35-28, but Northern’s JV team lost this game, so we didn’t get the Shovel.

The Coal Bowl History.

In all of the 62 years that the Coal Bowl was around, the Colts won 23 times and the Highlanders won 24 times and they both tied once. In the 1960s the Highlanders won six times and the Colts won four. In the 1970s it was the same record as the 1960s. In the 1980s the Colts won seven times and the Highlanders won two and they tied once. The 1990s NC won three times and CH won four times. In the 2000s, CH won three times and NC won two games. In the 2010s, CH won two games and NC won only one game. In the 2020s NC won only 1 game and CH only won 1 game.

Sources:

• “The Last Game”Indiegogo campaign, “Two towns,Two teams,One game.”(No date)https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-last-game--3#/ (October 3,2022)

• “The Cribune-Democrat” Philip Cmor sports, “Fans were so eager for the renewal of the Coal Bowl that cars were backed up as far as the old Patton Stadium with a half-hour to go before kickoff.”(September 11,2021)https://www.tribdem.com/sports/cambria-heights-dismantles-northern-cambria-in-renewal-of-coal-bowl/article_09fba0fe-129c-11ec-8c38-b73c617eb6e1.html (October 3,2022)