World War II French Military Leader Jean de Lattre de Tassiguy was once quoted saying, “An optimist is a man who plants two acorns and buys a hammock.”

I often pass by South Williamsport Lions Club member Max Dell’s house and have not yet spotted either oak trees or a hammock in his yard. Nevertheless, the small idea Dell presented to the South Williamsport Lions Club years ago has grown into a successful annual event that will be celebrated for the 29th time when the annual South Williamsport Lions Club District Four football game kicks off at Rodney K. Morgans Stadium this Friday night.

The game pits graduated high school football players from throughout District Four divided into North and South squads. The North team, comprised of teams from our local area, is coached by North Penn-Mansfield’s Tom Dickerson. Central Columbia’s Scott Dennis leads the South team.

“The process for player selection for each year’s Lions Club game begins in January at a meeting of the Coach’s Association,” explained Lions Club member Bob Coolidge. “Once a determination of which players will be invited, the Lions Club sends out a letter which describes what each player is asked to do. By the end of March, the early rosters are formulated.

“This year, when the first rosters came out, we had 94 players pretty well equally divided by the two teams. From that point, I am pretty much immersed in collecting the information from the players so that it can be assembled for our game program. Other Lions Club members, including Max Dell, the game coordinator, work with the coaches and perform the necessary behind-the-scenes details that make this game possible.”

Participating players are asked to support the game by obtaining an ad in the game program. Each player receives their game jersey, is hosted at a banquet to be held this Thursday, and is eligible for several scholarship awards provided by the Lions Club.

At press time the North squad had 38 players while the South had 41 commitments.

Lycoming County athletes scheduled to play for the North team include: Tyler Shadle, Hunter Budman, Brayden Strouse, Rhyle Strausbaugh, Jacob Gearhart and Daniel Beckley (Montgomery); Dylan Wilt, Coleman Good and, Mike Kustanbauter (Muncy); Cameron Griffin, Koby Peacock, Kyle Tomb, Anthony Darby, David Tomb and Hunter O’Connor (Jersey Shore); Eli Holler, Matthew Hill, and Ian Wimer (Loyalsock); Connor Morse and Paden Fry (Montoursville); Samuel Hillman, Josh Bernocco, Blaze McClements and Tucker Kreisher (Williamsport).

Hughesville’s Jase Wright will be playing for the South squad.

“This game is an opportunity for us to give back to the community and allow our seniors to have one more high school football game and collectively enjoy the evening,” Dickerson stated. “As coaches, we decided a couple of years ago to split the coaching duties between schools in the northern tier and schools in the Williamsport area. This year I’m serving as the head coach, and next year Paul Bozella (Montgomery) will be the head coach.

“Even with dividing District Four into two teams for this game, our schools are so spread out. We are a little bit geographically disadvantaged, so we split the practice sessions. We’ve had two practices at Wellsboro and two at Loyalsock and Thursday we’ll have a fifth practice at South Williamsport before the teams are hosted at the Lions Club dinner.

“There are some kids that we could have had on the North team that are not playing. This is one last chance for the kids to play, and I don’t understand why some make the decision not to play. Just a few weeks ago, I was attending a graduation party and one of my former players, Joe Whitaker, told me how much he loved playing in this game. I don’t know if some schools these young men will be attending in the fall don’t want their players to play or what the reasons may be. If it is a fear of injury, then perhaps they shouldn’t be playing this fall.

“This game is a great opportunity for kids to show what they can do and get after it one last time. Every year I go to the game whether we have kids playing in it or not and I’ve seen the enjoyment players have had and it does irk me a bit that some of the Northern kids are not playing. But as coaches, we’ve tried to make this a great experience for the players we have.

“Defensively both teams must play a 4-3 set with man-to-man in the secondary. We’ll run a spread offense with one man in the backfield most of the time. We have some talented athletes at the skill positions, and we’ll try to get them the ball as much as possible.”

In the past attendance has usually been around 700. Proceeds from the game help build ramps for homebound people, provide awards of scholarship money to players each year in addition to $13,000 awarded for high school academic scholarships, Christmas baskets that are distributed each year, sponsorship of Little League teams, and support of services for the visually impaired.

“This is a great event that we encourage the public to come out and show support,” Coolidge added. “They’ve seen the players play on their individual high school teams and now those once competing players are playing together, some of them playing football for the very last time. The results to our Lions Club have been very rewarding over the years. We are very much a service-oriented club, and this annual game is a big part of what we do.

“We are excited and look forward to a wonderful evening. We have a beautiful new program this year. The National Guard is bringing a gigantic flag which will be displayed during the National Anthem, which will involve the players and cheerleaders.”

The gates to Rodney K. Morgans Stadium will open at 5:00 p.m. this Friday, June 28. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. Tickets are available at the gate, adults $6.00 and students $4.00.