Sparta HS football coach Frank Marchiano has some advice for whichever NFL coach gets the traditional Gatorade bath at MetLife Stadium on Feb. 2, when Super Bowl XLVIII will be played there: “Dress warm.”
“It’s actually a great feeling when it happens,” Marchiano said, “but right now when you’re soaked it doesn’t feel as good.”
Marchiano was drenched in the closing minutes of the North I Group III New Jersey State Sectional Finals on Saturday afternoon after his Spartans knocked off the River Dell HS Golden Hawks, 40-0, in the first of four state championship games throughout the day in East Rutherford.
Though forecasts predicted the chance of sloppy weather, the games were played in relatively ideal conditions. Temperatures hovered around 40 degrees for the games that kicked off at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., and though the 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. games were colder, all games went off without any precipitation falling onto the field.
The Super Bowl Committee can only hope that the weather is just as cooperative on the first Sunday of February, despite the prediction of a winter storm by the Farmer’s Almanac.
While the 82,000-seat stadium was only scattered with a couple of thousand fans on Saturday, a full house is expected for the biggest NFL game of the season, unless conditions get so bad that some fans are scared away.
“The die-hard fans will probably come and sit because they don’t care,” Pope John HS fan Brooke Alvarez said. “But if it’s freezing out here who knows?”
Some fans bundled up despite the reasonable temperatures at MetLife Stadium on Saturday.
Joan Cabrera of Kearny, N.J. isn’t worried so much about what game-day conditions will be like, so long as Super Bowl week goes smoothly for the New York/New Jersey area.
“As people who live in this area, we’re kind of excited about the buzz,” Cabrera said. “It’ll bring out the community even if they can’t be in the stadium, they’ll be celebrating in their own towns.”
Though Saturday’s playing conditions were probably exactly what the NFL is hoping for on the day of the Super Bowl, there are plenty of fans - and perhaps some adventerous players - who would like to see more winter-like conditions that day, when kickoff is scheduled for just before 6:30 p.m.
“Football’s a sport that’s supposed to be played outside and I think it’ll add a different element,” said one River Dell fan who did not want to be identified.
It was the athletes, of course, who got the best treat on Saturday, playing on the very field where an NFL champion will be crowned 56 days from now.
“It’s a little bit different seeing everybody up on that big screen, but I think we treated it really well. We treated it just like another game,” said Spartans quarterback Matthew Seville, who threw three TDs. “We played at Kean last year when everyone thought we were going to play at MetLife and it didn’t happen. It’s a good feeling now to get on this turf.”
“Oh my god, it’s great. It’s so exciting being on this field, being in the visitor’s locker room. I mean, you couldn’t ask for anything else,” said Spartans linebacker Randall May, who also scored a rushing touchdown. “We’re like the Super Bowl winners right here. This was our Super Bowl and we deserved it. We deserved it more than anybody.”
To post your comments, please, Sign in » . X