TROY, Pa. — Troy and Canton in Bradford County have been rivals on the football field for decades. But recently, a nonprofit spearheaded a rivalry that has extended to all the students across the districts.
"Kids Can't Fight Cancer Alone declared a tab war between Canton and Troy to coincide with their Old Shoe Game," said Trace Weldy of the Troy Area School District.
The two school districts have spent months collecting soda can tabs. The tab war has been going on for three years now. Each school district has won once.
"It has brought a whole lot of community spirit," Weldy said. "Everybody is involved. The adults are more involved than the kids half the time."
The tabs will be taken to the redemption center and exchanged for money. That money will then be donated to the Ronald McDonald House in Danville to help families who need housing when visiting the hospital.
"There are so many of us that whether it has been a child with cancer, a premature baby, or a child with illness and we are dislocated from our homes," added Weldy.
Joshua Hunter and Vinnie Colton are cousins in the Troy Area School District. They collected more than 50 pounds of tabs. For reference, 1,200 tabs make up just one pound.
"First off, we wanted to beat Canton. You know, rival, you never want to lose to your rival," said Colton. "But we pretty much did it because we knew where it was going, and we knew it would be a good cause, and we wanted to help out all those kids."
Both the boys had some help from their grandparents.
"They work over at the recycle center for Lion's Club, and they get all these cans that don't have the tabs pulled. So, whenever they saw that, they would bring them home, and eventually, we would do it whenever they had tabs, and we started from there," Colton stated.
The total number of tabs will be revealed at the Troy vs. Canton football game on Friday night.