SAUGUS BOOSTERS A-COOKIN'; PARENTS, GRIDIRON FANS SERVE UP FRIDAY FEASTS.Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer Teen-age boys, as a rule, have voracious voracious said of appetite. See polyphagia. appetites. Factor in tackling, punting, rushing for yardage yard·age 1 n. 1. An amount or length measured in yards. 2. Cloth sold by the yard. Noun 1. , kicking field goals and throwing passes, and the calorie-burning quotient jumps dramatically. Thank goodness for home cooking. Every Friday during high school football season, parents from the Saugus Gridiron Club prepare a hot pregame meal for 75 varsity players, coaches and cheerleaders Notable cheerleaders
Home game or road game, the Gridiron Club boosters provide the early dinner for the athletes because it is often the only food the boys will have a chance to eat until after their game is over, which can be pretty late at night, said Kathy Van Duzee, a volunteer chef whose sons John and David play on the Saugus varsity squad. Gridiron Club members divide up the labor - one prepares the salad, another cooks the steaks or chicken, and other parents handle the side dishes, bread and beverages. Cheerleaders often supply dessert for the pregame meal. It's a ritual that seems like a throwback throwback see atavism. to another era - or at least to small-town America, rather than a sprawling suburb in the 1990s. But there they are every Friday, team parents toiling in their kitchens all morning to finish the washing, chopping, roasting and barbecuing by the 2:30 p.m. serving time on campus, Van Duzee said. The boosters have the routine down to a science. Because they serve the pregame meal in a room with no kitchen facilities, parents rush the food fresh from their ovens and refrigerators minutes before they dish it out, Van Duzee said. ``We cook the food at our homes, and then we take it down to the high school, set up chairs and feed the boys. I've been doing this for eight years, so it's kind of like second nature,'' said Van Duzee, vice president of the booster club A booster club is an organization that is formed to contribute money to an associated club, sports team, or organization. Booster clubs are popular in American schools at the high school and university level. . ``We try to (arrange) it so we're able to fill all the plates and not have anything left over,'' added Ted Snee, whose 11th-grade son Brian plays on the Centurion varsity. ``I like to cook,'' Snee said, ``and I saw a way to help the football boosters.'' Van Duzee said the menus run the gamut, with the volunteer chefs whipping up lasagna, top sirloin The Top Sirloin is cut from the loin of a steer or heifer. Top Sirlon steaks differ from sirloin steaks in that the bone and the tenderlon have been removed. Some American butchers call a thick top sirloin steak a chateaubriand, although the French reserve that term for a much better cut steak, teriyaki ter·i·ya·ki n. A Japanese dish of grilled or broiled slices of marinated meat or shellfish. [Japanese : teri, glaze + yaki, to broil.] Noun 1. chicken, rice and spaghetti during the course of a season. She said she resigns herself to a chaotic kitchen and a sink full of pots and pans for the sake of the team. ``Friday is just the designated football day,'' Van Duzee said. On Oct. 24, Snee was on barbecue duty. ``Today, they're going to have 20 pounds of chicken, plus rice,'' Snee said as he got busy marinating and seasoning the boneless Bone´less a. 1. Without bones. Adj. 1. boneless - being without a bone or bones; "jellyfish are boneless" , skinless chicken breasts. ``We have a lot of people who help out with this meal,'' Snee said, citing booster club members Carol Ivey, Cheryl Cook, Allison Flynn, Cheryl Munoz, Sandy Chase and Kathy Robison. The Saugus coaches give the boosters a few menu guidelines: light fare is best - ``nothing real greasy or heavy,'' Snee said - and bananas are de rigueur de ri·gueur adj. Required by the current fashion or custom; socially obligatory. [French : de, of + rigueur, rigor, strictness. every week because they are a good energy source. Boosters buy the ingredients at local bulk discount stores to keep the meals economical. Nevertheless, Snee said it costs $125 to $150 per week to feed the varsity players, coaches and cheerleaders. The Gridiron Club, not the school, foots the bill, he added. The cost doubles or triples on the weeks when the boosters feed the freshman and junior varsity teams For the American rock band, see . In sports, usually at the high school and college levels, members of a team who are not the main players in a competition (such as a football or basketball game) are called junior varsity players. , Snee said. This week's meal - preceding the Centurions' game against Canyon High - included pasta, salad, rolls, fruit and beverages. The Gridiron Club also supplies half-time oranges and Gatorade, buys postgame snacks for the team and runs the ``canteen'' concession stand Concession stand is the term used to refer to a place where patrons can purchase snacks or food at a cinema, fair, Stadium, or other entertainment venue. Some events or venues contract out the right to sell food to third parties. at the stadium. The pregame dinner is such an ingrained tradition that even when Saugus played a rare Saturday game Oct. 4, the boosters still served the meal the previous Friday afternoon. ``It's a time to settle the kids down before the game, maybe take a few of the butterflies away,'' Snee said. ``I think the boys look forward to it.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Ted Snee, whose son Brian plays football at Saugus High School, barbecues chicken breasts for the team's weekly Friday feast. John Lazar/Special to the Daily News |
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