Sure, summer is wrapping up, and cool weather is fast approaching, but those of you who are sports fans anticipate the fall for a reason other than the Back-to-School Sales. Weekends now offer you the perfect excuse to neglect your yard work, ignore your wife and family, kick back in your favorite Lazy Boy, and do the Gridiron dance. That’s right, folks — it’s time for football. Starting Thursday night, enthusiasts can tune in to a parade of football that culminates on Monday night with Dennis Miller and the new "Monday Night Football" crew. Five days of first and ten-bliss. For those of you who believe "it doesn’t get any better than this," here’s a challenge. Get out of your age-old recliner and wake up. There is good football out there and you’re missing it.

The Central Penn Piranha, based in the Lancaster/Elizabethtown area, are a minor-league football team and part of a fifty team association called the North American Football League (NAFL). Founded in 1995 by Steve Gerhart and Steve Saunders, the team has compiled an unheard of 70-4 record over the past five seasons. The Piranha, consisting of about 60 rostered players from local high schools, colleges, and even the NFL, week in and week out put on a display of football that matches or surpasses some of the best Division I college football around. Penn State vs. Toledo? Who actually cares? Though you have never heard names like Roman Morris or Walter Bland, they are part of a nucleus of players that make this team win. Offensively and defensively the team is sound — with a record like 70-4 they must be doing something right. So why the challenge? If great football, entertainment value, and a winning record were the formula for standing-room-only success, then you would expect that the stands at both MacAsky High School in Lancaster and City Island in Harrisburg would be packed every week. Unfortunately, this is the farthest thing from the truth.

Head Coach/Owner Steve Gerhart took time out of his schedule to talk to MODE Weekly. He began his interview with a brief history of the team. Gerhart and his former partner Steve Saunders shared a dream: to bring professional football to the Mid-State. After making the decision in 1995, the move to create a team began. Finding sponsors, choosing a venue, buying equipment, and finding players. Finding players that shared their "team" attitude and desire to win, initially, proved challenging. Gerhart and his former partner Steve Saunders had to shop the area, even traveling as far as Baltimore and Washington D.C. to fill out their roster. But by the time the first game arrived, the team was ready. Though their first game was a loss, and the new Piranha were without helmets and shoulder pads just two weeks before their first game, the trip to West Virginia was a success. Gerhart had put together a team that worked together effectively and almost beat Major Harris (a former Heisman trophy candidate) and a far more experienced West Virginia team.

Today, after five seasons and 70 wins, Gerhart’s dream is a reality, and instead of searching for talent, players come to him. "I don’t even have to look." When asked why, Gerhart replied simply, "They want to know what we got." In fact Defensive Back Roman Morris from Philadelphia and Wide Receiver, Walter Blands of Baltimore actually defected from their original teams to come to the area and play with Gerhart. Winning in this setting means everything. There are no big pay checks, there are no talent scouts, there are just two teams playing their guts out. It’s all about the game. Nothing more and nothing less.

And though his passion for football and the Piranha was apparent, there was a grey cloud that lingered over the whole interview. Simply put, Steve Gerhart wonders what it is that he is doing wrong. Though as a coach, he can’t help but feel a great deal of pride, compiling a 99% winning percentage and three NAFL championships, when he puts on his owner’s hat, he has to wonder where the fans are. The answer is simple. They’re at home. You don’t have to be a Wharton graduate to figure out that with an average attendance of about one thousand and ticket prices at a reasonable seven bucks, the team is struggling to be self-sufficient. Moreover, with ticket revenues being minimal and advertising opportunities limited (no big TV contracts) and no NFL affiliation, these players are not making much money. In fact, they aren’t paid at all. Steve told MODE that there is a big difference between deserving and getting. "The players work hard, and week in and week out they come out to play, If I could pay them I would." Thankfully, the players are here for different reasons. They, like Gerhart, are a part of the Piranha for the love of the game.