Appetite for Success: What it takes to feed a high school football team on game day

It’s not quite feeding an army but feeding high school football players on game day can be an arduous task.

At some area schools, it’s a labor of love.

Last Thursday, Fort Myers topped Tampa Catholic in a 51-48 shootout. Their fuel that day? Meatloaf and mashed potatoes, cooked by Fort Myers High teacher Sharon Trosiek, who volunteers her services once a season.

Fort Myers’ weekly meals include donated offerings from local businesses to homecooked meals and baked goods.

The Greenies are treated to chicken Alfredo one week and Stephanie Sirianni’s meatballs the next.

“We eat well at Fort Myers,” assistant coach Mike Durgin said.

Sirianni, a retired teacher and the sister of head coach Sam Sirianni Jr., heads up the operation – making plans to feed at least 65 players and coaches every week.

“I know it’s different, but I think that’s what makes it special,” she said. “I always believe that.”

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Tapping into Fort Myers’ vast local network of alumni, boosters and players’ parents to help organize the meals makes it a true community endeavor.

“It is that legacy,” Sirianni said. “It centers around food, and maybe that’s us because that’s how we are. That’s how I was raised – everything was around the food table.”

Fuel to perform

For Sam Sirianni Jr., the key elements of a game day meal are that his kids are getting proper nourishment and at the right time – about four hours before kickoff.

“It all runs through the whole idea that you don’t change things,” he said. “You get them on a pattern, it’s going to help you help their performance. Everything stays consistent.”

On game days, the Greenies have a group breakfast and are left to their own devices for lunch before coming together for the midday meal.

“Some of these kids, if we didn’t do this, they wouldn’t eat from 11:30 to kickoff, other than maybe some chips or junk,” Sirianni said. “So now you’re assuring that they’re getting something.”

The routine works for senior lineman Jacob Blanchard.

“Gets us fueled up and gets us lots of energy,” he said.

It helps that the meals have the players’ approval. Blanchard named chicken pot pie as his favorite. Senior lineman Saul Jean-Louis liked the baked mac and cheese.

“It’s good every time,” Blanchard said. “Never a bad meal.”

The community pitches in

The routine started under Sam Sirianni Sr., Sam and Stephanie’s father, who led the Green Wave for 33 years.

His children described how it originated with the coaches’ wives, who planned and cooked the meals back in the day.

“When I played, we weren’t doing it,” Sam Sirianni Jr. said. “It kind of came in vogue around somewhere in the '80s, and then once we started it, we’ve done it 40 years-plus, every game, whether home or away.”

Sirianni Sr. was superstitious – a victory meant you were likely having the same meal next week. Sometimes that meant players groaning over pancakes and eggs, yet again, because the Greenies were on a winning streak.

“It’s just evolved, but it’s a staple just like anything else,” Sirianni Jr. said. “We want to make sure that (they get) full nourishment. Some of them they’re finicky, they’re going to bring a bit of their own food, but it also gets us together and they’re here for the rest of the day.”

Stephanie will start planning out the meals when the team’s schedule comes out at the beginning of August.

“I sit down, and I reach out to my people that always donate first. ‘Would you like to sponsor a meal?’ They never say no.”

The annual Sam Sirianni Night comes with a donation from Big Nick’s BBQ, part owned by Erik Flett, a kicker for the Greenies in the '90s.

Alumni Ozzie Morrobel, part owner of Buddha Live and Taco Works, donates two meals every year.

“It’s always been what the community will do, what alumni will do, and that’s just kind of how we do things here,” Stephanie Sirianni said.

That includes Marge Lennon, the grandmother of Fort Myers kicker Vaughn Lennon, who takes two days every week preparing baked goods for the team.

“I do three or four things at one time, and I wreck the kitchen once,” she said.

“It’s a marriage made in heaven – I bake, and they eat.”

Another weekly staple is Stephanie’s salad.

“Moms tell me, ‘My kid never eats a salad, but he’ll eat yours,’” she said. “I don’t what it is. It’s nothing special – it’s lettuce and cheese and dressing.”

Clearly, players don’t feel the same – Blanchard called it the best salad he’s ever had.

“She’s revolutionized young men’s diets,” Durgin joked. “Thanks to her, we all eat salads.”

Trusting players on game day

Cypress Lake head coach Joey Mendes handles pre-game meals similarly.

“Trying to go into the game with the best nutrition,” he said.

A former player at Fort Myers, Mendes said his time as a Greenie influenced how he handles mealtime.

“It’s kind of when you have real good conversations and you get the bonding in,” he said.

Not every school takes the same approach.

Most programs don’t have the resources and coordination of Fort Myers that gives kids something different to eat every week.

That’s why Estero head coach Darren Nelson stopped doing formal pre-game meals three years into his tenure.

The decision stemmed from what his players preferred, which also meant they could leave school to eat on their own terms and return before game time.

Though Nelson noted that a meal would be provided for any student who doesn’t have transportation, this change has gone over well. It also breaks up a long school day.

“The guys love it, the coaches love it, and it’s been successful, and it’s worked,” he said.

It requires a level of trust – that players will eat the right things and show up on time before the game – but it gives them a sense of responsibility that Nelson said has never been abused.

The Wildcats have an annual pre-game meal for their Homecoming game, which was provided by Ted’s Montana Grill this year – plus a steak dinner at the end of the season.

“I do miss that aspect of it, the eating together part, but we still try to make sure we have at least one pre-game meal,” Nelson said, adding that there remains a focus on building team chemistry through other means.

Nelson and his staff don’t dictate what the kids eat either – he said they were educated in the offseason on the right approach to nutrition.

“We’re not really nitpicking them on that kind of stuff,” Nelson said. “Again, it comes back to trust. If it means something to you, you’re probably not going to pound down four cheeseburgers.”

'It's not the Ritz Carlton'

Last week, Green Wave players lined up for their meal – seniors first – as coaches and volunteers dished out the food.

Every week, Fort Myers tries to give their players options, and they aren’t strict if kids want to bring in their own food. The only big no-no is spicy foods.

“We try to meet their needs, but, at the same time, I always tell them it’s not the Ritz Carlton,” Sirianni said. “We have to be a little reasonable.”

Stephanie Sirianni wants the kids to try different foods, maybe some they’ve never had before.

“We’re just proud to be able to do it,” she said. “If we couldn’t do it, I’d be sad because, you know what, some of them, you never know like what meal they’ve gotten.”

Supervision is also an important element for Sam Sirianni Jr.

“We’ve had groups where you have to be more cautious,” he said. “This group eats, but we’ve had groups that – it’s Last Supper if you let them.”

There was plenty for everyone last Thursday – though some of Lennon's baked goods went fast.

Durgin said he remembers every Green Wave win or loss, but not necessarily whether the games were blowouts or went into overtime – or who made the game-winning play and who was riding the bench.

“But you remember eating the meal together,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: 'We eat well': How Fort Myers feeds its football team on game day