A look at the "Merola" part of Al Merola Field at Solvay Hgh School
There may be dozens of high school football games across Central New York on Friday night including great gridiron matchups against teams who won in week one.
But the most emotional game on Friday no doubt, is a matchup of 0-1 squads.
When Solvay meets Cortland, not only should it be a great matchup but emotions will be high before and after the game.
That's because Solvay High School is naming the football field at Earl Hadley Stadium after the man who in a nutshell, was Solvay Football.
Legendary player and coach Al Merola passed away last November and while his legacy lives on in the hundreds, maybe even thousands of lives he touched as a coach now it lives on at the football field.
Merola was the coach for those vaunted Solvay squads of the '80s and '90s. He's so popular everyone in the Village of Solvay knew who he was, you could call him the Jim Boeheim of the village. Even on the current Bearcat team several coaches either worked and/or played for Merola and even players who were too young to play for Merola know what the name means.
"Everytime I put the blue and orange on it's like, you want to make him proud" says senior Carmen Sarno.
Sarno adds "This is a small community so everyone is behind the football team it's not like other schools everyone is at our games no matter what so it means a lot to get to play at a school that he did so much for".
The dedication ceremony is at 6:15 on Friday at Solvay High School, and the kickoff between the Bearcats and Purple Tigers is set for 6:30 but could be delayed by a few minutes.
