High school graduates prep for Iowa Shrine Bowl

The turf field inside the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls was buzzing with activity on Friday afternoon.

No, the Panthers weren't holding a practice to get ready for the upcoming season this fall. Instead, dozens of high school football players and cheerleaders from around the state were on the field.

But they weren't playing a game, either. Instead, they were hanging out with kids from the Minneapolis Shriner's Hospital.

'There's about a two hour period where our players and the cheerleaders get to interact with the kids and play games with them right on the dome surface,' Humboldt football Coach Greg Thomas said. 'It was a really neat atmosphere and environment and a chance for our kids to interact with the shrine hospital kids to show them a special time.'

Those few hours are part of a much bigger tradition held every summer at Northern Iowa. The Iowa Shrine Bowl will host its 45th game on Saturday — an all-star game of sorts that pits the state's best senior football players against each other one last time before they all head off to college.

Thomas, who will coach the North in the game, has coached the game once before in 1999, and even played himself when he was in high school. Getting to participate in the game, he said, is truly a great accomplishment.

'I think it's a huge honor,' Thomas said. 'I think one of the highest honors you can have as a high school football player is to be selected to play in this.'

The players, who were nominated by coaches after the high school season ended, have been living on UNI's campus all week. They hold practices twice a day, and then have some sort of activity in the evening. They've held a hog roast, a movie night, and even went to a local water park.

Yet many of the players in the game are playing college football in the fall and have already gone to their respective campuses to start practicing. But because of what the game means in the state, Thomas said, many have traveled back to play.

'(Many of these players) use their one or two weeks off from that getting ready for their preseason camp to come and play with us,' Thomas said. 'That just is a great testimonial to the kind of character that these young people we have here have.'

The game, though, is centered on the Shriner's Hospitals for children. So far, they have raised more than $2.3 million for the organization.

So while the all-star game on Saturday will be fun for the athletes to get one last chance to play at the high school level, Thomas said they see the bigger picture.

And getting to interact with some of the children they're helping first hand, he said, was an eye-opening experience.

'I would imagine that it might be the first time that some of our kids have experienced kids with some pretty major physical handicaps,' Thomas said. 'The one thing I think that that they took away was how upbeat and how positive, and how just full of life and energetic these young people are. They've really found ways beyond their disabilities. They've accepted them, it's a part of their life, and their spirits are really high.'

Gazette Area Players

North: Michael Ahrendsen (Union), Nick Duehr (Cedar Rapids Kennedy), Jo Jo Frost (Center Point-Urbana), Ethan Lape (North Fayette Valley) Riley Pfiffner (Benton Community), Tavian Rashed (Cedar Rapids Jefferson), Drew Schmit (Jesup), Kyler Schott (North Linn), Shawn Shindelar (Decorah), O'Rien Vance (Cedar Rapids Washington), Maliki Wilson (Cedar Rapids Xavier)

South: Chance Baburek (Belle Plaine), Derek Greiner (Williamsburg), Calvin Hynek (Cedar Rapids Prairie), Jayce Knight (BGM), Devontae Lane (Iowa City West), Luke Lenoch (West Branch), Avery Moore (Sigourney), Logan Price (Montezuma), Reagan Ries (Iowa City Regina), Bryce Sinn (Washington, Iowa)

• Full rosters

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