SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, Pa. — Hundreds of high school football players representing each team in Schuylkill County braved the heat Tuesday during the 7th annual Schuylkill United Way High School Football Challenge.
"All fourteen high school football teams are here competing in a series of agility and strength skill competitions for bragging rights. There's a traveling trophy; there's a $200 spaghetti dinner on the line for the team that wins," said Becky Woods, Director of Marketing Programs at Schuylkill United Way.
"The heat, the heat has definitely won. Trying to keep our body replenished. Keep going on. This is what really keeps going," said Mark Kimmel, Nativity BVM senior.
From the most reps on the bench press to passing accuracy, each player sweated it out on the football field at North Schuylkill High School in seven different events.
"We've been conditioning a lot lately; we've been together for the last month and a half now. We all know that we have to drink water before this, so I think we're all really hydrated and just happy to be here," said Dante Carr, Minersville junior.
Whether it was hauling in cases of water or breaking up bags of ice, high school staff and United Way volunteers worked to keep the players cool while members from St. Luke's Sports Medicine Program kept an eye on the temperature, which hovered around 90 degrees most of the day.
But for the players, the heat couldn't repress their excitement that football is back.
"This is important for the team to get bonding together to go out and do stuff together and really work as a team together, but we also get a view of our opponents and get to see what we are going up against," said Charles Hower, Marion Catholic senior.