SOUNDS FROM A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY LATE-SUMMER MORNING

By Jack Mariano

What a beautiful, late summer, Saturday morning in the country.

Recent rains have made the grass and meadows turn green again. The sunshine raising the corn to their highest heights sporting the tassels on each stalk. The smell of farms and the sound of a rooster crowing in the morning! What a wonderful day!

So, picture this scene and add these sounds to it: The yell of “hut-hut”!, the grunting of athletes and the pop of the shoulder pads as players make contact! It is pre-season football at Octorara.

The Octorara Braves scrimmaged the Bishop Shanahan Eagles on Saturday morning. Scrimmages are probably just as exciting as the second half of NFL pre-season exhibitions (I really don’t call them games).

Scrimmages have no punts or kick-offs and so there was no chance in watching any exciting Chucky Cooper run backs but from my vantage point, there were some nice catches from Anthony DiNorscia and Mitch King. Kadheem Ford and Tyler Walton chipped in nicely on defense with some substantial plays.

Anchoring the program, as always were the dedicated staff of the Octorara Football Boosters Club. Nestled in their refreshment trailer, Jewell Shivery and Barry and Janet Kretchmer were hard at work providing drinks, hot dogs, french fries to all customers.

Beside the trailer were tables full of Octorara Football tee shirts, sweatshirts and other accessories.

The Booster Club has been in existence since 2004 and the club has been furnishing refreshments at the games since the inception.

However, games are not all they do! In fact, this coming Friday night August 26 at 6:30 p.m. the club will be hosting their annual spaghetti supper at the Octorara Primary Learning Center – the cost for a dinner is $7.00. Come meet all the players and their families.

The club has also been busy furnishing food at the Twin Brook Winery on Friday evenings for their summer concerts. The football boosters club catering is also available to cater your event…please call them!

Although Jewell and her husband Steve’s son Blake graduated earlier this year, they continue to be very active in the program. The dedication of this small band of residents runs deep….they even supply their own electricity. As there is no electrical hook up for them at the practice field, there was a generator whirring from the back of a pick up truck for the entire morning.

According to Jewell, the club started out as the sole financial resource for the football team (when they were a club). The Octorara School District began to help fund the program when it became a varsity sport a few years ago. As it is with many of the activities in the OASD, the school board has cut back on a lot of the funding.

The club seeks help from anyone interested in helping them provide this sport for the kids of the school district. Officers for the Booster Club: President - Paul Solomon; Vice President - Bernie DeLellis; Secretary - Deb Mattis; Treasurer - Jewell Shivery. More information about the Octorara Football Booster Club can be attained on their web site www.octorarafootball.org