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by Zack Azar

The further away you get from it, the easier it is to forget what it means to be in a high school football stadium on a Friday night. It is a place of dreams, but the dreams do not always revolve around football. It could be argued that what takes place on the field is only part of why high school football maintains such a hold on our culture.

There is football, yes. But at some schools, there is also the band, which plays on regardless of the action on the field. Winning, losing, rain or shine, the band is there, and many of those in the stands are there because of the band, not the football team. They are there for their sons and daughters who have worked so hard for this weekly performance.

There are the cheerleaders, whose actual value to the game peaks at this level. Thousands can go to a college game on a Saturday afternoon and, once the game starts, never be aware that the cheerleaders are there. But at the high school level, the cheers are led by cheerleaders who remain eternal optimists, regardless of the score.

And then there is the social aspect of the game. It is a community effort, a community event. Moms and dads cooking the hot dogs and hamburgers, working the concession stands and collecting admission money at the gate.

Look around the stands at any high school game. The parents usually sit in the middle, and they know each other by name, know each other’s kids, know whose son plays football, whose daughter is a cheerleader, whose son or daughter plays what instrument in the band. They arrive early and stake out the same seats in the same section, week after week, and they know who will be sitting beside them, in front of them and behind them.

On the fringes of the stands are the boys and girls who don’t play but know that this is where everyone is going to be, so they come too. The younger ones find temporary freedom from their parents and the older ones enjoy just standing and talking, seemingly not paying the slightest attention to the game. Yet when something happens — a touchdown, a big play, a crucial series — the conversations stop and everyone turns to see, to cheer, to celebrate and then just as quickly goes back to socializing.

There are the alumni, along with many of the football player’s dads, who stand lining the fence from end zone to end zone, cheering the team on. Many of the alums are former players, who come back for every Friday night home game to watch their team play.

Every part is just as important as the other. Yes, it’s called “high school football”, but the band, the cheerleaders and the community are just as important to the atmosphere as the coaches and players. 

High school football is the band member standing under the shelter of the concession stand watching the rain and wondering if they will be able to perform at halftime. High school football is the cheerleaders who keep their backs to the game, convinced that all eyes are on them as they jump, do back flips and call for more noise. It’s the grade schoolboys who bring their own ball, divide up into teams to play their own game of football in the partial shadows just beyond the lights of the field.

And it’s often unpredictable. Certain schools are always good, and there are programs that “recruit”, one way or another. But usually, a team is made up of players that come up through the grade school and junior high programs. If the talent level drops off or interest wanes, there’s nothing a coach can do but keep coaching and work to get the best out of what shows up on that first day of practice.

The attraction for me, as I spent 20 years in a high school press box announcing the games, is that the players play just to play. Yes, a very few will make it to the next level, but there are no agents, no lawyers and no money. These young men are true student-athletes, and at the heart of high school football is the 5-foot-7, 175-pound tailback who makes yards on guts and heart rather than size and speed. It’s the undersized nose guard whose name will never be in the newspaper or be on the local news highlights but plays because he loves the game, and this is his dream.

So, whether you are there for the football, the band, the cheerleaders or the social interaction, there is something magical about high school football Friday nights that stays with you forever.

Zack Azar is a retired businessman and columnist who spent many years volunteering in a high school press box. He wrote monthly columns for the Alabama Gazette for seven years and has four grandchildren involved in sports at Lowndes Academy.