Every year on Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania, Easton Area High School and Phillisburg High School play football, in what has been called the "No. 1 high school rivalry in the country." Fans hold a bonfire the night before and begin tailgating four hours early for the 10 a.m. game. It's an indication of the seriousness with which the two communities -- separated by just the Delaware River -- take high school football.
In 1993, the game ended in a 7-7 tie. Players on both sides were devasted. And I mean, this is no joke folks -- people in the area have pondered/stewed about it for years. But 15 years later, Gatorade gave them the chance this past weekend to seek redemption, with the Gatorade Replay, a football game that pitted two teams of 30 year old former high school football stars against one another.
On the face of it, the idea is straight-up ridiculous. I have no problem saying that, and I'm not the only one. Former Easton head coach Steve Shiffert admitted after the game that when he heard about the idea, he thought the schools' administrations and Gatorade were all crazy for thinking of bringing these ex-jocks back for another football game.
But the players spent four months training, Gatorade poured itself into the local community (pardon the pun), alumni and fans of both schools rallied, and suddenly this thing was a freight train: 10,000 tickets (to a replay of a high school game!!) sold in 60 minutes. One man lost 60 pounds ... just for the game.
So, to put it lightly, this was no joke. The national media swarmed on the the little blue-collar communities in northern Pennsylvania, Gatorade rolled out a massive celebration to recreate the entire event from 15 years ago, and by the time I rolled into Easton, things were in full swing.
Oh, and they brought in Eli and Peyton Manning to play the roles of "honorary coaches." And don't think the Mannings were just going through the corporate sponsorship motions -- both brothers spent the weekend shrugging off questions about their professional careers and focusing on how important the institution of high school football is to this country.
So, to recap: 30-year-old men come back to play a high school football game in front of 15,000 fans while being coached by two professional football players, having the whole thing backed by Gatorade and covered by the national media.
Yes, it's something out of a Springsteen song. Yes, it was surreal. And yes, it was freaking awesome.
Next: Gatorade Replay Trailer
