Coal Bucket Football Game

The Coal Bucket Game. A game played between two Pennsylvania High Schools, Shamokin Area High School [http://www.indians.k12.pa.us/] and Mt.Carmel Area High School [http://www.mca.k12.pa.us/] , every high school football season. It is called the Coal Bucket game because of the significant influence coal had on the heritage of these cities. The Coal Bucket is the trophy given to the team that wins the game. Only one team can come away with the bucket which is filled with the winning team's colored flowers. The game used to be played on Thanksgiving Day up until that late 1970s. They moved it up in the season to make it a more suspenseful game. Every Coal Bucket Game fills the host stadium with fans eager to see their team play smash mouth coal region football. In the end the players dont win the bucket for themselves. They win it for there hometown.Shamokin and Mt. Carmel are questionably the best rivals in the United States. Each team driven by such an intense hatred of the each other that one game can make or break a season. Both teams are usually tough, hard nosed, running teams. The two schools are separated by only 10 minutes and with excellent football programs [http://easternpafootball.com/500winclub.html] , they can be nothing but rivals. If you were to mention Mt. Carmel to a Shamokin fan their blood would run cold and the hairs on the back of their neck would stand up. That is how you define rivalry. Two small towns with a lot of spirit, confidence, and heart.Mt. Carmel lead the overall series 33-10, and has won the last 13 meetings.