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cover
story:
The
Kick-Off Return that Set the Tone
By Brian Knavish
How
an entire community shared
in the exhilaration of victory
that is Friday night football
in Peters Township
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Bill Geyer leans against the fence that
separates the fans from the field at Peters Township High School Stadium
and focuses intently on the gridiron battle unfolding in front of him.
He nods with approval as the Peters Township varsity football team
manhandles Laurel Highlands late in the first quarter of the season
opener.
Geyer can’t help but let a
smirk of satisfaction creep onto his face. Geyer, a Peters Township
School District bus driver, has been watching Indians football teams
play since 1979. During those nearly 30 years, he’s seen it all from
Peters, both the good and the bad teams.
“Mostly the bad teams,”
Geyer says with a chuckle.
Few people have watched more
Peters Township football games than Geyer, so he is painfully aware that
Peters is a program that, historically, has had trouble establishing
itself as a consistent winner. 
“But I hear they’re going to be good
this year,” Geyer says, his voice a mixture of excitement and caution.
That blend of emotions is understandable, given what has already
transpired. During the first game of the season, Peters senior Joe Smith
returns the opening kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown, sending the
capacity crowd into a frenzy. The fans are guardedly hopeful that the
play represents what is in store the rest of this season. But the ugly
specter of history still looms in the minds of the faithful.
Despite his passion for
Peters Township, Geyer watches from the much-quieter visitors’ side of
the field. Geyer has his reasons for watching from the visitors’
side of the field. “Over on the other side,” Geyer says, pointing
across the field to the sea of red that is the Peters Township end of
the field, “there’s too many people. They’re bumping into you. I
like it over here.”
He also has his
reasons for coming to the games each Friday in the first place. It’s
the competition – seeing young athletes leave every ounce of their
effort on the field – that brings him back.
It’s almost a cliché to
use the phrase “Magic Under the Lights” to describe high school
football, but for Geyer, watching the team he’s suffered with for so
many years win a 34-3 blowout really is magical.
“This keeps me young,”
he says.
Student
Socializers
Football isn’t the only
reason folks come to high school football games. For every Bill Geyer,
there’s a student attending the game purely for the social scene.
 “It’s a combo,” says
Peters junior Jim Sams. “I think most people come here for both. It’s
fun to watch football. It’s also cool to hang out and see everyone.”
Each student supports the
Indians in his or her own way, some more obvious than others. Sophomore
Mike Honeygowsky, for example, wears his spirit on his face, which is
painted red and white. An arrow darts across his cheek. While it is the
game that lures Honeygowsky to the stadium, junior Ross Lugar has
different motives. “I don’t watch football,” he says.
“He’s
here for the girls,” says his friend, senior Raven Garland.
The
cluster of friends nearby laughs. Lugar shrugs.
Youthful
Role Models
It’s not just the current
high school students who use Friday night football games as the focal
point of their weekly social calendars; students from the elementary and
middle schools also pack the stands each game.
Most visible among this
group are the always-energetic future Indians, the youth football
players wearing their numbered football jerseys, zipping in and around
every corner of the stadium. Some of these tween-agers seem oblivious to
the game unfolding on the field and, instead, spend their time engaging
in horseplay and downing nachos. Others take advantage of the
opportunity to observe their varsity counterparts.
Willie Lowe, a left tackle
in the youth program, says, “I like to watch the left tackle to try
and learn moves.”
To these
youngsters, the varsity players are role models. After watching Smith
return the opening kickoff, sixth-grader Ty Buckso says, “That was
pretty awesome. He is my hero.”
Then
there are those who like to get an up-close look at football’s rougher
side. “I like to see people get hit hard,” says sixth grader Mac
Oberschelp.
Teammate Nolan Threlkel uses
different phrasing to describe the same phenomenon: “I like to see
people get jacked up.”
 Leading the
Cheer
On this opening night, the
stadium buzzes with school spirit, but nowhere is it more apparent than
among the cheerleaders. After all, that’s their job.
Play-in and play-out, the
varsity squad patrols the sidelines, tumbling and cheering. But there’s
more to the cheerleaders’ responsibilities than their exhaustive routines. “We don’t go home at all after school [on game day],” according
to senior Alex Egan, who details a pre-game schedule that includes
decorating the locker room, eating a pre-game spaghetti dinner, then
manning the “Spirit Tent.”
That’s
a venue where fans can stop by before the game for face-painting and
tailgating.
While the cheerleaders go on
the road with the soccer teams, pack the gym during basketball season
and energize the wrestling team, the consensus among the girls is that
football is the Main Event.
"I look forward to Friday nights all week,
being out there in front of the crowd,” says senior Leanna Fry. “It’s
amazing.”
Start Up the
Band
Sometimes underappreciated
but never understated, the Peters marching band adds both visual and
audible enhancement to the Friday night football experience.
During the game, the band
assembles in a red-and-white cluster behind the south end zone. They add
some audio spice by belting out the fight song between plays.
And when that first quarter
ends, it’s their time to shine. “For us, halftime is game time,”
says senior Michael Jarrett, a senior drum major.
Beneath their uniforms, many
band members even wear T-shirts bearing that phrase.
Jarrett explains that the
adrenaline rush the band members experience at halftime is probably akin
to that of the players during the game. But while halftime is game time
for the band, both drum majors agree that there is no divide between the
players and the band; rather, the groups feed off one another.
We’ve got to get them
pumped up and get the audience pumped up,” says Jarrett. This year, we’re
trying to get the band yelling between plays.”
Zeffiro
smirked and agreed. “We want their voices to be gone.”
Parade of
the Boosters
Rena Schake stands in a
relatively-quiet corner in the stadium tucked away from the chaos of
mingling students. With an electric mixer in hand, she’s hunched over
a hefty bowl of funnel cake batter. She’s a Peters band booster, a
group of volunteers who sell funnel cakes and fried Oreos at each home
football game to raise money for the band.
In the still-warm-September
night air, mixing the batter borders on hard labor, but Schake doesn’t
see it that way. “I love baking, it’s not work, it’s kind of fun,”
she says. Her son Josh plays in the band.
 The band boosters are just
one of several parent-guided groups working at the event. For example,
the concession stand on the visitors’ side of the field is manned by
the Peters Quarterback Club, a booster organization composed of players’
parents.
Diane Edmunds and Lynn
Erenberg, mothers of football players David Edmunds and Andrew Erenberg,
explain that running the booth is more than showing up at game time and
leaving at the final buzzer. Booster club members must come early, stock
the stand and prepare the foods. “It’s a full-night’s work, it’s
like a mini-restaurant,” says Edmunds.
The Parent Teacher Student
Association runs the concession stand on the home side of the field. Tom
Zacoi does not have any kids on the football team, but he donates his
time to work in the PTSA booth purely out of the public service.
“I love it,” he says.
But the work makes following
the action on the field nearly-impossible at times. A weary Zacoi
half-jokingly asks, “are we winning?” unaware that the margin, by
that point, had swelled to 34-3.
Therein lies the challenge
for parents working at the football games. You’re involved in the
boosters, usually because your child is a player, cheerleader or member
of the band, but the times when your services are needed are also the
times your child is playing or performing. How do you work and watch
your kid?
“You try to peek and see
the game, but sometimes you get really busy and you can’t,” says
Anne Portz, mother of football player Justin Portz, who works selling
Peters Township T-Shirts and hats at a booth near the gate. “But you
hear the roar and you know something good happened.”
Rich Gauthier, whose son Ben
plays in the band, says the band parents have a slightly different
approach.
We’ve had plenty of times to see their performance. Already,
they performed at a Wild Things game, Kennywood, California University,
band camp,” he says, his voice trailing off as he continues with the
list. “Tonight is about making money for the kids.”
Since the football program
is divided into varsity, junior varsity and freshman teams, the
Quarterback Club attempts to man the concession stand in shifts. In
general, the booster club members take
shifts at games during which their kids are not playing. For example,
Erenberg’s son Andrew plays on the junior varsity team, so she
volunteers to work at varsity games so that she won’t miss her son
play.
Edmunds wasn’t so lucky.
In fact, in the middle of our discussion about the concession stand, she
got a cell phone call that David had gotten into the game. She bolted
out of the concession stand faster than Smith on that opening kickoff
and headed directly to the fence near the sideline, yelling with
excitement the whole way.
That’s parental passion.
THE GRIDIRON
The entire crowd at a Peters
Township High School football game – from the band, to the fans, to
the boosters – does its part. And each segment of the crowd takes its
job seriously.
But when the lights
illuminate the field on Friday nights each fall, the event is about the
game itself. And this 2007 version of the Peters Township Indians has an
especially-intense edge to it. First year head coach Nick Milchovich is
as involved as any player, and this was never more evident than in the
waning moments of that opening night contest against Laurel Highlands.
With the Indians up 34-3 and
about 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Peters put its second-team
defense on the field. Still, Milchovich was as focused and animated as
he was in the first quarter.
Laurel Highlands sprang a
run to the Peters two yard-line. Milchovich was barking at his defense
and pacing the sideline with all the animation of a coach at the
Superbowl.
When Peters held Laurel
Highlands out of the end zone, Milchovich, his assistants and the entire
squad of players celebrated as if they had just kicked a game-winning
field goal. After the game, Milchovich showed his satisfaction over his
first win as the Indians’ head
coach. “It couldn’t have happened in a better way than it did,” he
says, beaming.
The Indians players and
coaches pointed to that opening 91-yard kickoff return by the speedy
Smith, not just as a way to get on the board, but rather as a way to
send a message about what the 2007 Indians were all about. At last
count, the phrase “set the tone” was used 1,928 times.
“It was a big play. My
blockers set up a nice wall for me, and it really helped us set the
tone,” says Smith. Senior running back Nick Fazio elaborated. “It
set the tone for the entire game,” he says, explaining how the
exhilarating play energized the entire team.
Quarterback Tyler Porco took
it a step further. “It definitely set the tone for the game,” he
says, “and this game helped set a tone for this year. We showed we can
win.”
The fans, band, cheerleaders
and parents took note. This was not just a win, but a dominating win on
opening night. That kick-return on this warm September night set the
tone for the excitement the entire stadium felt that night.
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