Pine-Richland’s Kasperowicz selected to guide Team USA U19 football team

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, September 28, 2018 | 8:30 PM

While the Pine-Richland football team is still mired in the heat of their 2018 WPIAL regular season schedule, a significant honor has already been doled out to head coach Eric Kasperowicz.

The Rams’ sixth-year coach has been named the head coach for the 2019 U.S. Under-19 national team for the 10th annual International Bowl, which will be held Jan. 18, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

“Of all the people that could be chosen across the country, to be able to represent Western Pennsylvania and the Pine-Richland School District, it’s really quite an honor,” Kasperowicz said.

“This is the pinnacle for high school football all-star games and championship tournaments. We’re representing the red, white and blue — the stars and stripes — in a game of football against other countries.

“It’s hard to even comprehend, and I’ll be looking forward to getting after it at the end of the year.”

USA Football, which is football’s national governing body and an organization that serves as a member of the U.S. Olympic committee, puts the International Bowl together each year. The event itself pits 16 teams from four continents against each other throughout four different age groups in order to display the worldwide reach and participation in the sport.

The top football talent from regions such as the United States, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Sweden and Finland will converge on AT&T Stadium, the $1 billion arena constructed by Jerry Jones to serve as the home for the Dallas Cowboys, in order to compete for the title of the world’s best football-playing country. And Kasperowicz will be positioned in the middle of it all.

“That’s going to be incredible. Let alone to be involved in a game of this caliber, but then to be able to play at the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium — one of the best in the country, if not the world — it just adds to the magnitude of the game,” Kasperowicz said.

“It’s just awesome and I can’t wait to represent the United States on this platform.”

In his six years at the helm for the Rams, Kasperowicz has guided the program to a 57-14 record, including two WPIAL championships and one PIAA title.

Kevin Lohman is a freelance writer.

Tags: Pine-Richland