The Dallas fans and community were out in full force to send off the Mountaineers football team on their way to the state championship on Thursday. From left: Karen Schiel, Christy VanOrden, Danette Fife and Kate Malarkey.
Kevin Carroll | Times Leader
The Mountaineers begin to make their way out of the fieldhouse and down to the buses with a crowd of fans cheering them on. More supporters could be seen lining the streets leading out of the high school and down Route 309.
Kevin Carroll | Times Leader
Dallas assistant coach Bobby Roper stops to say goodbye to his son Colton before departing from Dallas High School.
Kevin Carroll | Times Leader
The Mountaineers walked their way down Conyngham Avenue to greet their fans one final time before heading to Cumberland Valley for Thursday night’s PIAA Class 4A state championship game.
Kevin Carroll | Times Leader
DALLAS TWP. — From the looks of the scene at Dallas High School on Thursday, you may have thought that the Mountaineers would be hosting the PIAA state football championships.
It’s a long drive to Cumberland Valley, where Dallas would be taking on Aliquippa in the Class 4A title game — but the Mountaineers received a send-off for the ages as they hit the road.
Hundreds of friends, family members and Dallas football supporters filled the parking lots and lined the streets to wish the Mountaineers good luck ahead of Thursday night’s championship game.
Many of those fans weren’t just there to wish the team good luck: Additional buses were chartered to bring the Dallas faithful along for the ride to Cumberland Valley High School, near Harrisburg.
“This is what it’s all about,” said Dallas head coach Rich Mannello as his team prepared to depart from the high school on Thursday afternoon. “This is more important than any one football game.”
The Mountaineers have passed several tough tests along the way this season, including overtime wins in back-to-back weeks against Bonner-Prendergast and Bishop McDevitt, the defending state champions in Class 4A.
To the fans, those wins weren’t upsets — Dallas was exactly where they belonged.
“To be close to this team and to be close to the culture of the team, you wouldn’t be surprised,” said Colleen Phillips, mother of Mountaineer lineman Steve Phillips. “These kids play together, they hang out together, they’re in other sports together…they stick together, that’s why they’re winning.”
Pete Sabulski, whose son Dan also plays on the line for Dallas, noted that the team has been able to achieve all that they have this season because of a tireless work ethic that’s driven them to succeed.
“The reason you’re seeing this is because these kids put in all year-round … they’re in that gym and they’re practicing four days a week, all year,” Sabulski said. “You see the effort they put in … that’s the kind of commitment they have.”
Around 2 p.m., the players made their way out of the fieldhouse and down to the buses, to a roar of applause from the fans gathered outside.
It wasn’t just a group of fans at the school: on Conyngham Avenue, the road that runs parallel to the school complex, students from the intermediate and elementary schools joined together with even more Dallas supporters to create a sea of blue and white, a sea whipped into a frenzy when the buses started rolling.
The response was so large, so loud, that the team bus actually came to a stop after turning onto Conyngham Avenue. The doors opened, and the Mountaineers came down onto the street and walked through the crowd, greeting supporters and slapping high-fives with the children from the schools.
When it finally came time to go, the Mountaineers received an escort from several police and fire vehicles, with more fans waiting for them all the way out to Route 309 and all the way down to Memorial Highway.
Along the route, blue and white balloons were tied to street signs, and homes and businesses posted signs wishing the Mountaineers luck in Thursday night’s game.
“It’s absolutely crazy … almost every business has something out on their stand,” Sabulski said. “The whole community is behind these kids.”
It’s a pride and a passion that the Dallas community carries each and every year, magnified this season with the Mountaineers enjoying their second state championship appearance in the past five seasons.
“The entire community is backing Dallas, they always do…everybody is just so proud of them,” Phillips said. “Proud of the way they handle themselves, they just keep working.”
While Phillips and Sabulski were able to showcase their pride in the accomplishments of their children, at least one young Mountaineers fan got to show just how proud he was of his father.
As assistant coach Bobby Roper made his way out to the bus, he made one quick stop — to give his son Colton a hug before heading to Cumberland Valley.
“I’m proud of him,” said Colton. “They’ve got to win.”
Win or lose, though, it doesn’t take away the love this community has for its Mountaineers.
And for Colton Roper, no matter how the game goes, it doesn’t change his next move, a trip that he and his family were delaying slightly to watch Dallas fight for the state title:
“We’re going to Disney World.”
