Special home night game scheduled for Sept. 23

BY Jason Emerson

Editor

Last year’s state football championship was a first for the varsity Lakers, and on Sept. 23 Cazenovia football will experience another first – a Friday Night Lights home game at Cazenovia High School.

This special event – for one game only this season – was enthusiastically supported by the Board of Education at its last meeting, is supported by the district administration and will be paid for football team fundraiser money, not by the district.

Resident feedback after the game will determine if this becomes an annual event or is a one-time game.

“Football last year brought such pride to this community that this special event … is a way to give back and continue the momentum,” said Superintendent Matt Reilly. “I just think it will be a real nice community event.”

Cazenovia varsity football has never played a night game at home because there are no lights on the high school field, while the vast majority of schools the Lakers play do have both lights and night home games. Within the past few months, the Cazenovia football staff and football program supporters came up with the idea to try a home night game with rented field lights, with the rental fees to be paid with the money raised at the annual Bucky Bennett golf tournament, said Cazenovia Athletic Director Michael Byrnes.

“They thought it would be a great way to have a big football game and be part of the Friday Night Lights culture that exists nationally for one time this season at a home game,” Byrnes said. “I don’t know any better timing for this either, since there is so much excitement already for the new season – this will just fit.”

The excitement for the school’s first night football game hopefully will be felt not just by the players, but the entire student body and the community as a whole, Byrnes said. Friday night games typically have less personal conflicts for people and therefore higher attendance in general, while the district’s     non-football student athletes (such as cross-country, volleyball, field hockey, tennis and soccer players) often miss weekend games due to a Saturday tournament or invitational in which they compete.

The local news channels provide excellent game coverage, and the local booster clubs raise more money as attendance is usually higher for a game on Friday night versus Saturday afternoons, Byrnes said.

“In addition, we would expect a boost to the local economy on Friday evening in town,” he said. “I would imagine some folks will head out to dinner at one of our many great eateries in town, and then make their way up to the game leaving their car parked downtown (but they must still promise to buy a hot dog and soda from the CAA stand at halftime!).

The game, which will be against Camden, is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, at the CHS football stadium, and should be completed by 9:30 p.m. A few lights would need to be left on for the custodians to clean up the bleachers and field areas, but those lights would not be on for long and only a few would need to stay on longer than the game, Byrnes said.

Hosting a night game does create added costs over a Saturday game, so the district is considering charging adults $3 instead of $2 for the game. Student tickets would remain $1 as would senior citizen tickets. Laker Passes and Gold Cards would also be honored.

“I think a once a year game on a Friday night is a great thing,” Reilly said. “We will do our best to plan this and be successful, and we’ll want to know how we do.”

Reilly said the district will assiduously seek community feedback after the game to see what worked or did not work about the event, and whether or not a once-a-year Friday night game will be continued in future years.

The Board of Education unanimously supported the idea of a Friday Night Lights game at its Aug. 22 meeting, with members voicing and predicting a great enthusiasm for the event.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for the kids because they do play Friday nights, just not here,” said BOE President Jan Woodworth.

Board member Dave Mehlbaum said it was “an exciting thing” to do to follow up on last year’s state championship, while Member Jennifer Parmalee said she wants district residents to know that “as a board we are excited about it.”

More information on Lakers athletics can be found on the district website at cazenoviacsd.com/athletics.