Friday Night Lights

Football in the fall .. soft September Saturdays in C'ville at Scott stadium watching the "Hoos;  crisp October week-ends in Nittany Valley cheering Joe Pa's Nittany Lions; chilly Thanksgiving mornings at the classic high school match up before heading home to turkey and TV.

What is missing from this list?  Do you Remember the Titans?

 A little known fact is that they did not play a single night game at home.  No Titan team  EVER played home at night in the history of the school.  Now y'all in Texas and most of the rest of the country where Friday night draws two towns together in a stadium may think this is strange. But we had issues and consequently, no lights in the stadium.

Well that changed Friday night thanks to generous alums and a major PR effort to sell VIP tickets.  Lights were trucked in from Iowa and set up around the field and the whole (well most of the town) showed up on a perfect crisp and breezy night to see the Titans play South County.

This was a huge deal.  The '71 Original Titans were on hand to sign posters and shirts for the VIP tailgaters and fans before the game.

 

 Principal Suzanne Maxey and Superintendent Dr. Mort Sherman were totally behind the effort.

Executive Associate Principal, Athletics and Student Activities  Steve Colantuonii did the organizational work..

 The stands filled.  And filled. and overflowed.

The colors and the national anthem drew cheers from the sold out SRO stadium.

  

The city council members, school board members past and present, mayor, US Rep Jim Moran, school administrators past and present and lots of young alums with their future Titans came to cheer beside the 

current students.

 Past School Board Chairman Ferdinand Day and Rep. Jim Moran

 The teams ran out on to the field.

Seniors from the band, 

 

cheering squad,

and the team were honored.  The team got commemorative footballs from the '71 team

.

State champion Coaches Herman Boone ('71) and Glen Furman ('87) officiated for the coin toss.

Inducted into the Hall of Fame were three TC supporters,  Jack Taylor, Donny Simpson and Mayor Bill Euille.

Oh ...  they played a little  ball game too.

 

 

At the half it was 0-0.  Both bands performed at half time to the delight of the crowd.

Good thing no one left early.  All the excitement came in the last 5 minutes.  In the second half TC scored twice, then in the fourth quater South County scored and the scored board failed with 5 minutes to go.  We ran back the kick to score, 21-7.  They were knocking on the door close to the last minute when Titans got an interception for a score, 28-7 at the whistle.

Welcome to Friday Night Lights Titan style!