WARREN School shows spirit for big game

The undefeated Harding High Raiders need one more win to become state champions.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Banners decorate halls, streamers line lockers and students bear the school colors as Warren G. Harding High School prepares to battle for its first state football championship in 12 years.
The undefeated Raiders face Cincinnati Elder on Saturday at Fawcett Stadium in Canton.
Tuesday, the last day of classes before the big game, marked Spirit Day at the school, when students, teachers and staff were encouraged to wear black and gold.
Eleni Liakaris, 17, and co-president of the senior class, wearing a Harding shirt and selling buttons, bearing the regional championship title, crossed Massillon off the list of the team's "victims" posted in a school hallway.
She wrote Elder in red ink as the next in line to meet the Raider wrath.
Senior cheerleader Logan Matthews, 18, blinked out from under the gold glitter of her eyeshadow. She was wearing a Harding shirt, had WGH painted down the pant leg of her jeans and carried a pompom tucked into her back pocket.
She swore the glitter doesn't hurt, explaining she applied lip balm to her eyelids to make it stick.
Looking for more
Spirit is obvious at the school, but it's not in the community.
"Inside the school it is, but I'd like to see more spirit outside," said Prescott Burgess, a senior player on the team. "I'd like to see more school colors so when people from outside of Warren come to Warren, they know."
Dimitrios Makridis, another senior player, expects more displays of spirit to come out as game day nears. Durrell Jenkins, also a senior player, agreed.
The players say they're confident of a win Saturday.
"When you look at some of the games we've already played and won, we're allowed to be confident, especially when you look at the way we've won some of them," said Rob Massucci, a senior football player.
"We've come from behind," Durrell added.
"When you've got one minute left ... and you're behind and you eventually win" some confidence is deserved, Rob said.
Nick Frankos Jr., owner of the Buena Vista Restaurant near Harding High, where sports is a main motif, said he's heard talk about the big game circulating throughout the community and the restaurant.
Five buses
He's been to every game and pointed out that the school's Gridiron Club, a football booster organization, rented five buses to travel to last week's game.
"They're just a great group of kids on and off the field," Frankos said. "The [seniors] are just class kids."
He also pointed to the determination they've demonstrated in their come-from-behind wins.
"As long as they can get the ball, they're not going to let go of a game," Frankos said.
Carol Ulishney of Warren remembers walking to Harding games with her father when she was a little girl.
"I've been going to the games ever since," she said while eating lunch at the Buena Vista.
Ulishney hasn't attended all this year's playoff games but plans to listen on the radio and watch the delayed broadcast on television this weekend.
Although she doesn't have any relatives on the team, she often attends practices. "I just love high school football and I think Coach [Thom] McDaniels is a great coach," she said.
Erin Patrick, 14, a freshman member of the band, said she's seen more businesses displaying signs as the teams' wins keep rolling in.
Decorating
Garry Rowland, in-school suspension teacher, decorated his classroom door with school colors and cut-out players to get into the game-day spirit.
"I have to say that my wife helped," he said. His wife, Joyce, is a teacher in Bristol School District.
Rowland, a basketball and baseball coach for six years, has known some of the players since they were in middle school.
"I just love football, and the kids and I think Thom McDaniels is just about the best coach," Rowland said.
Brandon Giovannone, 17, and a senior, spent seven hours creating a video tribute to the football season.
"It's highlights of not just the team, but the fans at the stadium, the whole game," he said.
George Brown, another 17-year-old senior, is sports reporter for the school's television station and works in sports for radio station WANR 1570.
He says school spirit is widespread in the community.
"I had a two-hour call-in show last week, and the support is there," he said.
There may not be a billboard or banner in every business's window, but it's obvious when you see the number of Harding fans that trek to the games, George said.
"They show it where it counts, in person, at the stadium."
dick@vindy.com