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Troy Apke is sure his parents will be on his side Saturday.
Reasonably sure.
“Yeah,” laughed Apke, the Penn State safety who is the son of a Pitt linebacker and a Pitt track athlete. “They’ll be rooting for me.”
Yes, it’s going to be a particularly interesting week for the handful of Nittany Lions who played their high school ball in the WPIAL like Apke, who starred at Mt. Lebanon, some 15 minutes south of Pittsburgh.
In all, the Lions have eight WPIAL alums on the roster: Apke, injured TE Nick Bowers (Kittanning), WR Gregg Garrity (North Allegheny), DT Kevin Givens (Altoona), OT Sterling Jenkins (Baldwin), FS John Petrishen (Pittsburgh Central Catholic), RB Miles Sanders (Woodland Hills) and DT Brenon Thrift (Gateway).
Six of them had Penn State and Pitt among their finalists. The two on the outskirts of the league, farthest away from Pittsburgh — Bowers and Givens — originally gave verbal commitments to the Panthers before flipping late in the process to sign with the Lions.
In the case of Givens — already a starter on the Lions defense as a redshirt freshman — he got a Penn State offer less than 24 hours before signing day and made the switch. That’s something that Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi hasn’t forgotten.
“They’ve got some really good football players. One of them was a former commit to us in Kevin Givens who has been electric for them,” Narduzzi said. “He’s not a big guy — about 270 pounds probably. But he’s very athletic, he’s very active. My kind of defensive tackle.”
Narduzzi was just starting his second month on the job at Pitt at the time. What was between his staff and Givens at the time is unknown.
But whatever it was, it prompted Penn State receivers coach Josh Gattis, one of the team’s recruiting coordinators, to fire back on Twitter.
“When negative recruiting goes wrong…” Gattis wrote at the time. “Don’t awake a giant by throwing stones!”
Of course, Pitt has also won some high-profile battles against the Lions for top WPIAL talent, particularly in the secondary.
Two years ago it was Central Valley’s Jordan Whitehead. This past winter it was Central Catholic’s Damar Hamlin. Though Hamlin has been hurt to start his college career, Whitehead has shown to be one of the Panthers’ top athletes as a freshman and a sophomore.
The two schools had another major battle this past winter over Sanders, one of the nation’s top recruits in the last cycle. He been committed to the Lions for a year-and-a-half, but Penn State had to fend off charges from Pitt all the way until signing day.
But it’s Apke who has the best connection to this weekend’s trip to the Steel City. Even if his dad’s stories about the rivalry have gotten a little fuzzy for him over the years.
“I can’t remember to be honest,” Troy Apke said.
Then he laughed.
“I think Penn State was really good when they played. I think they beat the crap out of him when they played.”
Lions fans can laugh themselves at that line — yes, Penn State was indeed good in 1985 and 1986.
Thirty years ago, Apke’s dad and his Panthers squad were standing between Penn State and a Fiesta Bowl date with Miami for the national championship.
Penn State’s 34-14 win was remembered more for its three ejections and five fights, the final one prompting Joe Paterno to run across the field and chew out players on both sides.
Earlier in the game, Steve Apke got into it with an old buddy and teammate from high school — Lions quarterback John Shaffer.
“The refs tried to keep it under control, but things like that are going to happen,” Steve Apke said after that Nov. 1986 game, his final one in a Pitt uniform. “It’s a big rivalry. That’s just playing hard. When the score starts getting out of hand, people start getting frustrated.”
But when it came time for his youngest son to pick a school, Steve wasn’t going to dissuade him from joining his old rivals.
“My dad stayed out of it,” Troy said. “He’d make jokes about it. But he said it was my decision.”
To top it off, Troy Apke’s first high school coach — Chris Haering — left Mt. Lebanon after his sophomore season to join Paul Chryst’s staff at Pitt, giving the Panthers another recruiting connection.
Apke had initially committed to Penn State and Bill O’Brien before his senior season in 2013, but stuck with James Franklin and the Lions in 2014. A year later, Haering would follow Chryst to Wisconsin before Narduzzi took over.
On Saturday, he’ll find himself on the field against one of his best friends from high school in Alex Bookser, the Panthers’ starting right guard.
But Apke has a bigger issue to deal with this week.
“The main thing,” Apke said, “is just getting tickets.”
