Teen Football Players Thrilled To Serve As Super Bowl 50 Stand-Ins
SANTA CLARA (CBS SF) -- A Mountain View high school football team got the chance of a lifetime Friday, getting to stand in for the Panthers and the Broncos at Levi's Stadium during a Super Bowl 50 practice run for the CBS Sports camera crews.
The players from the Saint Francis High School football team are used to playing on Higgins Field. But the teens got the chance of a lifetime Friday afternoon when they stepped on to the same field where Super Bowl 50 will be played Sunday.
The Saint Francis Lancers were thrilled to pretend they were the NFL teams facing off in the Super Bowl for a day.
ALSO READ>>CBS Aims To Strike Balance With Added Super Bowl Cameras
"I couldn't believe it. Never really hit me until coach was like, 'Yeah, this is really happening,'" said the team's kicker Courtney Ogren.
CBS made it official six weeks ago when they invited the Lancers to run plays like the broncos and panthers so they could practice camera shots.
The run through included the same pyrotechnics and grand entrance as both teams run out onto the fields.
If you look closely, you can see the grass is covered by a tarp to protect it for the actual big game.
It all came together because of a Saint Francis alum who knew a CBS employee.
"50 years from now, they'll say, 'Hey, I was at Levi's Stadium!' You know?" said class of 1960 graduate Dave Obenour.
"More excited than anything! I don't think we're ever going to get an opportunity like this again, so we're just going to take it all in take a lot of pictures and see how goes," said Kamalii Akina, who was standing in for Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton.
With both quarterbacks chosen and the team's first varsity female kicker ready, the team spent an afternoon pretending to play a game they'll never forget, running on the field some of their idols will play on less than 48 hours.
"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity," said Lancers Head Coach Greg Calcagno. "It's fun and it's a nice reward to a great group of kids."
