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Steven Schaffer and Ian Bosserman were in the minority.
The two Hanover football players walked into the White Rose Room at the York Expo Center for YAIAA football coaches media day on Aug. 11 as one of maybe two sets of players wearing their away jerseys.
It wasn't by accident, said Jason Potts, Hanover's head coach. It was by clever design.
"We're wearing our white jerseys today," Potts declared. "Get used to it, because we're going to be wearing white for the first seven."
A team that's had to scratch and claw for wins -- and players -- the past few years is coming off an encouraging 5-5 campaign.
Hanover has more players now than ever. Potts estimated there are 50, including freshmen.
And their antiquated home, Sheppard-Myers Athletic Field, once a gloomy anachronism when compared to the majority of other high school football stadiums, is finally getting a much-needed facelift.
Hanover's practices have been taking place off to the side of Sheppard-Myers, where mountainous piles of dirt, stacks of black piping and temporary construction trailers serve as their backdrop.
The steady hum of diesel engines and the beeping of backhoes and bulldozers are the team's summer soundtrack.
As these work crews furiously labor to get the stadium ready, the Nighthawks are working to prepare for their season, one of which they'll probably spend 70 percent on the road.
The Nighthawks were already scheduled to play at Dover, Biglerville, Eastern York and
They'll now add road games to Littlestown, York Catholic and York County Tech.
Potts agreed his team would have to adopt a similar outlook to the one cultivated by the New Orleans Saints in 2005.
Then, Hurricane Katrina rendered the Saints' Louisiana Superdome unusable, and New Orleans had to play "home" games in Baton Rouge, San Antonio and East Rutherford, N.J.
"We're road warriors. That's our mentality. The mentality of this team is we'll play on the moon if we have to," Potts said. "We don't care. We're going to go to war in the trenches. It's looking right now that it's going to be seven consecutive (road games). They're looking at
Oct. 17 as a time frame for when Sheppard-Myers is going to be complete, weather permitting."
Potts is hoping the work will be completed to a point that his team will be able to play at least two of its final three games at the new facility. The Hanover Public School District is aiming to have the field playable by at least Oct. 21, when the Nighthawks would welcome Bermudian Springs to Sheppard-Myers.
"They're pretty significant because they're Bermudian and Delone," Potts said. "So those are two good games for us to have at home."
Either way, Potts knows the wait will be worth it.
The field will have a state-of-the-art drainage system, which will help to keep the natural sod playable even after being used by multiple teams.
And the sod, which hasn't been put down yet, will be the same used by Penn State's Beaver Stadium.
There also will be lights to illuminate the practice field and a team complex complete with coaches' offices and a weight room.
"They're making great progress out there, although it kind of looks (bad) right now," Potts said. "I've seen the plans for it, and it's going to be fantastic. It's going to be unbelievable when it's finished."
While the seniors are looking forward to the looming challenge of playing seven consecutive road games, they also want to get a chance to play at the remodeled facility.
But they're not letting that prospect distract them.
"It's kind of like more adversity we're going to face," senior quarterback Schaffer said. "Just like coach said, we have to be road warriors, and that's the kind of mentality that we have to have. We can't really think much about it, except just go all along with the plans."
A bit of Sheppard-Myers Athletic Field history
--- The first game played at Sheppard-Myers on Sept. 9, 1949 drew 5,700 fans. Hanover, coached by Hal Reese, beat Biglerville, 6-0. The Canners were coached by Hanover graduate Gene Haas.--- The first touchdown was scored by then-sophomore Harry Hansford on a 5-yard run.
--- The field was dedicated on Sept. 16, 1949. Delone won the game, 33-7, behind Bill Sheaffer's three touchdowns.
--- Hanover's mascot is the Nighthawk because it was the first school in the Hanover area to get lights on the football field.
--- The land for Sheppard-Myers was donated by Hanover Shoe Farms.
--- Construction started on the field in May 1948.
--- Hanover's football team practiced on three different fields before Sheppard-Myers.
--- The field was home to the Sonny Sheppard Relays for more than half a century.
