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Ben Schill (right) poses with his brother Jay (left) and former Oiler basketball coach Dan Fry at his retirement party.

Ben Schill earned his wings
without 
forgetting his roots

Ben Schill is the only Oil City basketball player to score 1,000 points -- all in an Oiler uniform. That was 29 years ago. 

Since then he matriculated to the Air Force Academy in Colorado, became a pilot -- of F-16s yet -- flying dangerous missions over places like Afghanistan. Now a Texas resident, he recently retired and shared his at times complicated story  (9.21.25 and 9.22.25) with Joe Henderson of The Derrick/The News Herald.

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ABOUT THIS SITE

If you are from Anywhere, USA, and happened to stumble upon this site, Franklin and Oil City are about eight miles apart along Route 8 in Venango County, Pa. -- which is about halfway between Pittsburgh and Erie in the western part of the state.

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yardsandpoints.com (formerly venangofootball.com and then route8rivalry.com) covers the grid doings of Oil City and Franklin high schools in Venango County. It also includes the football histories of the two schools, which date back to 1896, along with that of (RIP) Venango Catholic (nee Christian and formerly St. Joseph in Oil City), which dropped the sport in the 1990s. I've recently included more stuff on basketball as well as the doings in other sports.

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Former Derrick sports editor Penny Weichel is webmaster.

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Contact pennyweichel@gmail.com if need be.

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