SALEM, Va – The top two teams in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, the nation’s first African American athletic conference, will face off for a football championship on Saturday.
Before they face off on the gridiron, they spent some time on Friday helping others.
Players from Fayetteville State spent the early part of Friday shuffling boxes.
“Today was a great example of how our guys love to compete against each other,” said Richard Hayes, the head coach at Fayetteville State.
Packing and labeling boxes at Feeding America is part of the team’s community service.
“This particular cereal, the label was Hebrew,” said Pamela Irvine, President and CEO of Feeding America of Southwest Virginia.
It was the offense against the defense.
“You’re winners on the field but you also need to be winners in your community,” said CIAA Commissioner Jacqie McWilliams.
“Some stuff is much bigger than the game we play,” said Hayes.
Fayetteville State will compete against Bowie State in the CIAA football championship in Salem.
“We know that we are in a community that cares about the CIAA and wants to give a great experience to our student-athletes and fans,” said McWilliams.
The team packaged close to 24 pallets and 16,000 boxes combined and the process went faster than usual.
“It would have taken three months,” said Irvine.
Fayetteville State were winners during this competition but they’re hoping to finally win a football championship.
“We want to be champions, we want nothing less than to be champions,” said Hayes.
Tailgaiting starts at 9 a.m. and the football championship kicks off at 3 p.m.