The 1892 Wyoming Seminary vs. Mansfield State Normal football game, played September 28, 1892, was the first-ever

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

game played at

night Night (also described as night time, unconventionally spelled as "nite") is the period of ambient darkness from sunset to sunrise during each 24-hour day, when the Sun is below the horizon. The exact time when night begins and ends depends o ...

. The game was played between Wyoming Seminary (a private

college preparatory A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily designed to prepare students for higher education ...

school located in the Wyoming Valley of Northeastern Pennsylvania) and

Mansfield State Normal School Mansfield University of Pennsylvania is a campus of Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania and it is located it in Mansfield, Pennsylvania. Part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), the campus' total enrollment is 1,6 ...

Mansfield, Pennsylvania Mansfield is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough located in east-central Tioga County, Pennsylvania, United States, in the Tioga River (Chemung River), Tioga River valley. It is situated at the intersection of U.S. Route 6 in Pennsylvania, U.S. Route ...

. During the time period, it was common for a college and high school to play each other in football—a practice that has long since been discontinued.

Game summary

The lighting system brought in turned out to be inadequate for gameplay. The game itself lasted only 20 minutes and there were only 10 plays. Both sides agreed to end at halftime with a 0–0 tie after several players had an unfortunate run-in with a light pole.

References in modern culture

Annual reenactment

This historic game is celebrated by a yearly reenactment of the original game played between Wyoming Seminary and Mansfield State Normal School during an autumn festival known as the "Fabulous 1890s Weekend." The re-enactment of the game is a play-by-play version of the actual game as recorded. Fans who watch the game are sometimes known to correct players when they deviate from the original recorded plays.

100th anniversary

The 100th anniversary of the game happened to occur on Monday, September 28, 1992. ''

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, AB ...

'' celebrated "100 years of night football" with a game between the

Los Angeles Raiders The Los Angeles Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 before relocating back to Oakland, California, where the team played from its inaugural 1960 season to the 1981 season and then agai ...

and the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

Arrowhead Stadium Arrowhead Stadium is an American football stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. It primarily serves as the home venue of the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). The stadium has been officially named GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stad ...

. The Chiefs won 27–7 in front of 77,486 fans.Kansas City Chiefs
Year-by-year record

References

External links

Mansfield University of Pennsylvania official website

Wyoming Seminary

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyoming Seminary vs. Mansfield State Normal football game 1892 1892 college football season vs. Wyoming Seminary 1892 1892 in sports in Pennsylvania September 1892 sports events