Friday Night Lights

"Tornado Pride," Coach Eve Lyash explains in her annual Just Gotta Cheer shirt and jeans, "is not something you learn. It is something that you are born with, something that is a part of you. It is a legacy passed from grandfather to father, and father to son. The key to being a Tornado is believing in yourself and one another and playing football, not necessarily for the sake of winning, but to answer what's in your heart." In her forty-one years of being a Red Tornado, she mentioned how some traditions have not changed in the 125 years of the program.

Figure 1: see note

As Coach John Darrah enters the Jazz Diminck Field at the Silver Bowl  with the Mount Carmel Area (MCA) Red Tornadoes in their all red Adidas uniforms with white numbering shortly behind him all hand in hand, the cheers of ecstatic fans fill the stadium. Along with the Big Red marching band in their red winter uniforms with black pants and a white plumes on their hats enthusiastically playing, the vivacious cheerleaders in their white uniforms with red lettering and designs holding the crash banner for the players anxiously await the players to take the field. The Silver Bowl (Figure 1) currently located across from Boyer's and CVS Pharmacy received its notorious name after the original wooden bleachers, built in 1932, with eighty-foot tall steel light posts were replaced with metal stands and painted silver to give the illusion of a bowl-like appearance. The name was initially given in the mid 1930s by a sports editor in an article about the newly renovated stadium and the name just stuck. The stands currently are still made with a metal frame that would get a new silver paint job every so many years. The fencing between the silver bleachers with red railings on stairs and handicap ramps and the black track get decorated with new red and white ribbons.

In the 125 years of the program, Pennsylvania's winningest team have won six State Championship titles ranging from 1927 until 2002. Although it was not a win they were hoping for, they were State Runner-ups in 1999 making them the Eastern Pennsylvania Champions. They were District champions eight times from 1994 until the last winning in 2011. They were also Eastern Conference champions seven times in the years of 1954 to 2009. The Red Tornadoes currently have 841 wins in the 125 years of the program. This season the team is 3-1 with at least six more games to look forward to.

"What makes MCA football unique," elaborates alumni Coach Lyash in an upbeat attitude, "is that it is more than just a sport. It is about bonding as a family and a community." She has been a Red Tornado cheerleading coach for the past twenty-five years, along with being a teacher in the high school. Her spirit in and out of school makes everyone near her just want to grin from ear to ear. She remarked that she was and always will be a Red Tornado.

The ten-foot tall black crash banner with a red tornado in the center and Mt. Carmel Area Red Tornadoes lining the top and bottom of the banner conceals all forty team members of the 2017 Red Tornadoes before the start of every game. The Big Red marching band plays vigorously as the players eagerly make their way across the field from the end zone with the cheerleaders and the fans cheering them along every step of the way. After their 100-yard run, all players say a prayer for the upcoming game. Along with prayers, Coach Darrah recounts a tradition of going to church mass every Friday before a game. He remembers this tradition occurring long before the 1980s. A prime example of this being shown is depicted in the following video from 1:20-2:26. This video contains game footage and commentary from the opening game of the 2016 football season.

Another tradition that has stuck throughout the ages was Supper Club on Thursday nights before a game. Supper club held by the football boosters at Mattucci's Willow Cafe, a family-owned Italian restaurant on the corner of South Willow and West Fourth streets in Mount Carmel. The brick building located a few blocks away from the Silver Bowl is infused with decorative paintings hanging on red walls trimmed in an extravagant woodwork. The cooking of homemade marinara sauce can be smelled from outside the doors. Although Supper Club has changed since before the 1980s, it is still a tradition that will never be forgotten. It is something that both players and parents look forward to every year.

Figure 2: see note

As the Red Tornadoes await kickoff, their red helmets with a white stripe down the middle come off their heads and get raised high to the sky (Figure 2). Besides being Pennsylvania's winningest team in 125 years of football, this is another way the Red Tornadoes make themselves different and unique compared to the others in the local area. "In so many ways," exclaims Mr. Aaron Domanski, current press box announcer, in a red MCA football shirt and jeans, "Mount Carmel football is the best identifier of our town and community as a whole. When traveling and you meet a stranger and tell them you are from Mount Carmel, PA, nine times out of ten they respond with 'you guys have good football there.' It has just developed as an identifier to our culture." 

As the game concludes, the players meet and shake hands with the opposing team while the band plays passionately. After the coaches and players say a few words in the huddle about the game, they make their way off the field as the cheerleaders and fans cheer them off whether it was a win or loss. "It's always something different," proclaimed Brendan Boris, senior varsity left guard, after a hard fought game. "There's some fans that always come to every game and come to talk to you afterwards no matter how far away the game may be or how cold it may be. Sometimes even kids come up and ask for a picture after a game like we're their role models." While events start to wrap up after the game has ended, Mr. Domanski announces after a win at a home game "It's a great night to be a Red Tornado."