Roman Catholic High football team gets help from a local union
Roman Catholic got an assist ahead of its big game against Imhotep as a union installed and covered the costs of temporary lighting so the team could practice later into the day.
Any team that plays football against Imhotep Charter needs all the help it can get.
Roman Catholic High School, which practices on a makeshift grass field along North 24th Street about a half mile from the Art Museum, got an assist from a local union this week.
“It’s a game-changer for us,” Roman head coach Rick Prete said. “We’re very grateful. We were in bad shape going into this week, and those guys came through big time for us.”
The Cahillites practice facility, commonly referred to as River Field, doesn’t have lights, which has meant about an hour less practice time in recent weeks.
With Roman (8-2, 4-1) playing perennial Public League power Imhotep on Saturday for the District 12 Class 5A title, less practice wasn’t exactly ideal.
So Roman school officials reached out to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 98 for assistance. Local 98 spokesperson Frank Keel said the Philadelphia office received a request Monday for temporary lighting.
Keel said Local 98 contacted Carr & Duff, one of its contractors, which had the necessary time and resources, and completed the work the same day. Local 98, Keel said, covered the costs, which totaled more than $20,000.
Keel added that part of the union’s motivation was that many of its 5,000 members are Roman Catholic graduates. He added that the union has fulfilled similar requests for other schools and other sports.
Prete, now in his fourth season, says school officials told him this is Roman’s first city title football game since 1947.
Before Prete’s arrival in 2019, Roman had gone just 9-36 overall and 4-16 in league play since 2015.
In stark contrast, Imhotep, has dominated the Public League since winning its first title in 2012. It also competed in four consecutive PIAA championships from 2015 to 2018.
Last year, the Panthers (7-2, 3-0) lost, 17-14, in overtime to Penn-Trafford in the PIAA Class 5A finale.
» READ MORE: Talent abounds at Imhotep, which features numerous players to watch in the quest for a state title
Prete, 40, knows the Panthers program well. He was an assistant coach at Imhotep for two seasons before taking over at Roman.
“They do so many things well and they have so much talent that you have to be prepared for every aspect of the game,” Prete said, “so having those lights allows us to work everything a little more in detail.”
Lighting wasn’t a problem last season, because Roman didn’t play in November. In his first season, he says the Cahillites practiced for about an hour before the sun went down.
With a win Saturday, Roman, led by senior defensive end Jameial Lyons, a 6-foot-4, 245-pounder who committed to Penn State in April, would qualify for its first PIAA playoff game.
“We feel like we have a really good program,” Prete said. “We feel like we represent the school and the city well. We’re playing Imhotep, which is so familiar with this time of year…the fact that we’re involved in that I think says a lot about us.”