Cleveland High School Football Team Honors Victims, Survivors on 9/11

The Cleveland High School football team found a special way to honor 9/11 victims and survivors before their game last Friday night.

Cleveland head football coach Cy Stallard said Cleveland is a pretty patriotic community and he wanted to do something special before the game Friday night in honor of Patriot Day.

Video from HUB Network showed the tribute where every Cleveland football player ran onto the field carrying an American flag.

Coach Stallard said the flags are typically used hang on the town's street lights during holidays, but the city graciously donated them for the night.

Stallard pointed out none of his players were alive the day of the terror attacks, but said his players know the history and were proud to honor the victims and survivors 19 years later.

“To them it was a super, super big deal that they all got to run out with an American flag and show their patriotism. They took it even more seriously than I thought they would,” said Stallard.

Pictures from Kelsey R Lester Photography showed the patriotism carried over into Cleveland's student section where fans wore red, white and blue. Even Cleveland's Tiger mascot showed his patriotism during the halftime show.

"Everybody was on their feet going crazy. There was videos on Facebook. People, they were all about it. It was a cool deal. I didn't think it would get that big of a reaction, but the community really loved it," Stallard said.

Coach Stallard said he hopes to turn “Freedom Night” into a yearly tradition for Cleveland.

The Tigers, by the way, beat Mannford that night-- 42 to 7.