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Friday Night Football

By Lucas K. Murray

There is football being played in North Philadelphia.

The players aren't wearing the familiar cherry and white uniforms of Temple University . They aren't playing at a $1 million facility either.

But tell-tale signs of a contest are all there. White light beams down on the field. The sounds of cheerleaders wailing and helmets and pads crashing together echo throughout the neighborhood. The smell of fried food wafts through the air.

Every Friday night the members of the Blackhawk Athletic Club don their black-and-gold uniforms and take to the field at 11th and Cecil B. Moore.

The Blackhawks compete as part of the Liberty Athletic Association under the direction of the Pop Warner Little Scholars program. Youth from around Philadelphia compete against each other, representing their neighborhoods.

"We want to help young people develop a sense of commitment to their community," team president Reginald Mtumishi said. "They are encouraged to excel on the field and in the classroom."

Even though the team receives grants from the city and funding from private businesses, running the program on a Friday night is a family affair.

"We're pretty much a family-orientated team" Blackhawk Parent Committee Director Erica Richardson said. "We have participation from all the parents. We try to spread it out a little bit so that when the teams are playing, the parents are on the field. The teams who aren't playing, the parents are back here helping out."

On any given Friday night during the 10-game season, almost 200 people fill the stadium seating and sidelines at Blackhawk Stadium.

"The parents and spectators come out, so it's really a good atmosphere and it's exciting and everything for everybody," Richardson said.

This is the first season the Blackhawks and the rest of the Liberty Athletic Association, will be eligible for the youth equivalent of the Super Bowl, the Pop Warner National Championships. The league champion wins the right to play in a regional playoff with that winner going to Disney World in Florida to compete for the national championship.

While the Temple Owls are a longshot for a bowl game, the Blackhawks have their sights set on Florida.