My first high school football game. Nerves were high. I could hear the crowd gathering in the stands on the other side of the building, waiting for the class of 2021 to make their first appearance in front of them.

We were all waiting in between in the buildings by the stones on the patch of grass by the fountain. And we were all still pretty new to each other, everyone in their own zone getting ready for the game. The big debut.

Vinny Dandino called for everyone’s attention and shouted, “This is landing for sure!”

With that everyone turned and stared at him as he flipped a half filled Gatorade bottle about 6 feet above his head. Up toward a windowsill on the outside of the Graham-McCarthy wing.

The bottle soared through the air and did a full flip on its way to the windowsill, and I thought “no way is this possible.” When it landed it blew our minds. And for that minute all stress and nervousness went away.

Through the rain, wind, hail, and blizzards, that same bottle still stands on the same windowsill, in a way that one moment set the tone for the class of ‘21.

The seniors that have played for the Mount Carmel Caravan football team, have played through three undefeated seasons and a undefeated state championship. Finishing with a record of 36-2 after all four years.

This is a moment that isn’t going to be on a wall somewhere, but as long as that bottle still stands there, the story will always be able to be told.