Feeding fans' appetites: High school football concession stands in Stark work overtime

The winning recipe for a game beneath the Friday night lights: Preparation, positional assignments, focus, timing and an ability to finish strong in the fourth quarter.

It takes teamwork to make it all come together inside a high school football concession stand.

Each week, a contingent of mostly volunteers comes together to feed the masses who invade stadiums from Canal Fulton to Minerva, and everywhere in between.

And fans appreciate it.

"We eat dinner here on Friday nights," said Alliance football mom Tammy Fisher.

She dined on a heaping helping of loaded nachos at a table inside Kehres Stadium at University of Mount Union. A meal before watching her son, Kaden Strait, and his Alliance Aviators' teammates, recently rout Salem 48-14.

Across Stark County, players and coaches get cheered. Bands receive standing ovations. Cheerleaders and dance teams are adored and applauded. Concession stands? They're kind of like restrooms. They serve their purpose, but rarely do they garner the limelight.

And that's too bad because largely these stands are operated by booster clubs that use profits to support school teams and activities.

They also happen to dish up lots of unique eats, decadent treats and plenty of sweets.

Over the course of three consecutive Friday evenings, The Repository visited concession stands at all 19 Stark County high schools with football teams for a closer look.

Unique football concession items in Stark County

The only places you can buy a comfort food classic cream chicken sandwich are at Fairless High's Fred Brideweser Stadium and Clyde Brechbuhler Stadium at Canton South.

"I ate them when I was a kid," said Melissa Stotzer, who runs the Fairless stand.

They're an Ohio thing for sure.

Think Woody's root beer stand in Canton.

One of her most regular regulars for the sandwich is Chad Merritt, the high school principal.

"It is a unique item that isn't on most concession menus and it takes me back to my youth when I would join my parents for potluck dinners at church," Merritt said of the sandwiches, created from shredded canned white meat chicken, cream of chicken soup and some secret ingredients, served on a hamburger bun for $3.

Canton South's version, one of its "Wildcat Specials," is slightly more upscale — made from freshly shredded breasts. But the price, at $6 a sandwich, is quite a bit steeper.

Wildcat country also is the only place you'll find the Dumpster Dog. It was an accidental creation. A few years ago, a fan at a college exhibition game kept asking for more toppings on his hot dog. And so a hot dog smothered in coney sauce, sauerkraut, coleslaw and nacho cheese was born.

"I call it a heart attack on a bun," said Amy McKinney, band booster president and concession leader.

It sells for $6.

The coney sauce, which she makes, is a family recipe from her grandmother. Her grandma just so happened to be a legendary cafeteria worker in Canton Local Schools, back when lunches were made from scratch. McKinney said she inherited a large volume of recipes.

"Old school stuff," she said.

McKinney always seeks a better product to sell, which led them to contact a movie theater chain about the secret liquid they shower on popcorn to make it taste so good.

"We have it now," McKinney said, pointing to a bottle full of a yellow-colored concoction.

Canton South is one of only four places you can buy a giant pickle. The Mt. Olive kosher behemoths sell for $2 each. Alliance, Marlington and Northwest sell them for a buck. And Northwest skewers them with a stick.

Tuslaw's sausage sandwiches, another rare find, are $4 apiece.

Perry High is the only place where you'll find breath mints prominently featured on the menu. They are listed right after Airheads and before bags of chips. The mints sell for $1.

Concession workers insisted they are a big hit with eighth grade boys ― which may be another story entirely.

The people behind the scenes

Eighty-year-old Frank Minocchi, a former caterer, held court from a corner seat just inside the side door of the Canton Central Catholic stand. He's run the place for so long, he's lost track of the years.

We think it's 23.

"I like the coney dogs," he said.

He's proud the buns are from Canton's iconic Norcia Bakery.

The hot chocolate at Central Catholic comes in one large size only for $3. Brett Huntsman, who makes it, can explain why those in the know call it famous hot chocolate.

"Cocoa, H2O and other ingredients," he said.

It's such a big hit that a dozen years ago Hunstman made an effort to present it to a crew from the "America Eats" Food Network TV show, during a stop at Dragway 42 in West Salem.

"They rated it as excellent," Huntsman said.

Others also get into the hot chocolate and coffee game, especially when the weather turns cold. The East Canton concession stand once sold 65 gallons of hot chocolate on a particularly bitter Friday night.

At Perry High, the husband and wife team of Patrick and Julie Friedrichsen are in year 11 of manning concessions. Perry, and plenty of other districts, have a knack for retaining experienced parent volunteers. They return to work stands even after their children have graduated.

"You make so many friends," Patrick Friedrichsen explained.

Beth Hartzell-Redhead, manager of the Northwest High stand, knows the feeling. She came back to run things, despite the graduation of her daughter earlier this year.

She knows her presence means a band parent can sit in the stands to watch the game and enjoy the halftime performance. Hartzell-Redhead takes credit for renaming the classic walking taco, a marching taco. Bands march; they certainly don't walk.

On average, 10 to 20 volunteers staff concession stands around the county on any given Friday night. Whatever the number, though, it seems it's never enough to meet demand.

Old standbys like hamburgers and hot dogs

"We're going to make 100 hamburgers and 300 hot dogs tonight," said Bob Workinger, as his spatula prodded sizzling burgers and dogs on a propane griddle outside the GlenOak High concession stand an hour before a Federal League matchup with Jackson.

The griddle-master for the past dozen years, Workinger keeps his supplies inside the bed of a nearby truck.

The all-beef hot dogs sell for $3 apiece; burgers, made of ground beef from Postiy's, go for $4.

Griddled, grilled or heated in a roller, hot dogs are a universal treat, sold in all 19 stadiums, usually for $2 or $3 apiece.

Across the board, cold beverages largely fall into the Coke and Pepsi products category, along with water and sports drinks.

Other classics at many venues include popcorn, assorted candy, soft pretzels and a cacophony of nachos, sloppy nachos, walking tacos, marching tacos, often with a few permutations.

Minerva's walking tacos, for example, include taco meat from nearby Kishman's IGA, topped with cheese, lettuce and sour cream, inside a bag of Doritos; Fairless' cow chips are corn chips covered with sloppy joe meat, nacho cheese and sour cream; at Marlington, it's Fritos or Doritos topped with taco meat, lettuce, cheese, salsa, sour cream and jalapenos.

Pizza, pizza

Where can't you buy a slice of pizza?

Central Catholic, St. Thomas Aquinas and Jackson are the only venues without pizza, though all three offer pepperoni rolls.

And band boosters who run the Jackson stand go the extra mile (actually 30-plus miles). For every Friday home date, they drive to Pepperoni Rollers in New Philadelphia to pick up stock for that night's game. They sell for $3 apiece at the concession stand.

A slice of pizza at any of the other 16 stadiums typically costs $3.

Canton's Pizza Oven has a stranglehold as the preferred provider for most. That includes Massillon's Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, which typically draws the largest crowds.

Among those that don't offer Pizza Oven: Minerva and Fairless (Your Pizza), Louisville (Pizza Hut), Northwest (East of Chicago) and Lake, which sells slices from local A&E's Pizzeria.

Going corporate isn't a bad thing

While countertops in sometimes cramped block-building concession stands are covered with family slow-cookers and electric roasters, it's different at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.

AVI Foods, a professional outfit, runs concessions for all events, including McKinley High games.

Its menu is a bit more diverse than others — it's the only place that sells bratwurst, corn dogs and combo specials — but prices are generally $1 or two more than other places.

However, the district is to receive 20% of net sales at its games, according to Joe Bogdan, director of sports, athletic partnerships, facilities and physical education for Canton City Schools.

Some others also allow outside vendors; for example:

• Poagie's restaurant brings a truck into Leopard Stadium in Louisville. It offers a variety of pulled pork and beef brisket items, including full dinners for $12 or $16.

• At Lake, you can buy fresh-cut french fries, and add bacon and ranch to up the calories, or munch on deep fried pretzels with cheese, pickle fries, chicken tenders and quench your thirst with fresh lemonade or shaved ice.

• Travelin' Tom's Coffee sets up a truck inside Jackson's Robert Fife Stadium. It offers fans an assortment of hot coffee, tea, mocha, latte and cappucinos, mostly for $4 or $5 apiece.

Marlington High sells Arby's roast beef sandwiches for $5 apiece; they typically go fast.

Chick-fil-A sandwiches are a winner, though scarce. North Canton Hoover recently switched from Chick-fil-A, opting to go with locally owned The Howlin Bird chicken sandwiches.

But Sandy Valley and Jackson, which operates two concession stands, do sell Chick-fil-A.

"We bought 700 for tonight," said Alissa Crossen, Jackson's stand manager during a recent game vs. McKinley. "We're usually lucky if we get to halftime before selling out."

Reach Tim at 330-580-8333 or tim.botos@cantonrep.com.On X: @tbotosREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Stark County high school football: The best food at concession stands