This Friday my former high school football team, the St. Joseph by the Sea Vikings, played their island rival, the Farrel Lions. Unfortunately my team lost by five points, but it was still a great game to watch none the less.

Now what I'm really getting at was the atmosphere of Friday's game. Rarely do two catholic island teams meet and play each other, but when they it's something football fans mark their calendar for. Now most of the time the island teams play some team from the another borough and the only people who show up are to the games are a few students and of course some of the parents. But the other day Farrel's stands were complete filled, standing room only ten minutes into the game. Everybody came down to watch it, not just people associated with either school. Head coaches from other programs, eighth graders interested in playing high school football, and a flock of students and alumni all came out to see the game. It was like a scene out of the movie, Friday Night Lights. This is something that, in my opinion, is missing from most Staten Island football games, and I do not think there's a reason for it.

So what I would like to see is an all island football league. No more games where island teams play schools from Queens that people have no interest in. There are enough teams on Staten Island for it to have it's own league, roughly ten. If the games are set up this way everybody benefits. The schools make more money because there is more people paying to get in, the players are always more interesting in playing island teams if for nothing else than simply bragging rights, and it gives island football fans really something to look forward to.