STEELTON, Pa. — High school teams want to bring home championship hardware as much as possible, where it will be on display in the trophy case for years to come.
But as for each individual who had a hand in the win, they get something a little more personal for their own hand.
Steel-High's football team waited years for a chance to claim the state's ultimate prize, so waiting a few more months to get their state championship rings was worth it.
"It looks pretty cool and I'm just blessed to have a ring cause there are many players in Pennsylvania who don't have this chance," said Steel-High rising sophomore quarterback Alex Erby.
"It's way better than I expected. I expected that they were going to be nice, but not this nice," added former Steel-High wideout Mehki Flowers.
The Steamrollers held a ceremony at the high school on Sunday to recognize their team's accomplishments and bringing the championship group together one more time.
"I think it's really awesome and I think it's really special that our athletic trainer, who was my athletic trainer, in his 24th year is retiring. Everything timed up so I think it was a special day for our program and for our kids, and to recognize our athletic trainer Joe Spogley. It's just a great day to give our kids notice and put eyeballs on our kids for their hard work," said Steel-High Head Coach Andrew Erby.
The Steamrollers said goodbye to some long-time members of their staff, but they also looked to the future.
"We sat in these auditorium chairs maybe a year ago and talked about winning a state championship and what we needed to do," recalled Coach Erby. "Our expectation is to get back to Hershey."
The off-season work continues to reach Hersheypark Stadium once again.
"Just getting healthy, speed, eating healthy, losing a couple of pounds, and finding a new group for our team," are some of the things that Alex Erby has been working on over the past few months.
The young Steamroller gunslinger won't be throwing to Mehki Flowers this season as the wideout has transferred to Central Dauphin East for his senior year, and Flowers work ethic is going with the Penn State commit.
"It's a big senior season coming up for me. Transferring from 1A to 6A, that's the biggest change, probably," added Flowers. "I'm just working, I've been lifting, getting bigger and faster, all of that. It's going to be a great season and next year going into Penn State as a freshman, I'm looking to get on the field immediately."
