Find a School
Browse by City/ StateToo hot? Not for the Mercury Bowl
Palm Springs High School football coach Steve Fabian labored late into the evening in his classroom Tuesday as he put the finishing touches on his latest creation.
Palm Springs High School football coach Steve Fabian holds the Mercury Bowl trophy he created for the season-opener game against Palm Desert High School. The Mercury Bowl is unique because schools in the desert rarely face each other during the first half of the season.
Many coaches disregard sleep as they prepare for their opening games, but Fabian wasn't focused on Xs and Os.
He was painting the Mercury Bowl trophy, which he designed for tonight's game between the Indians and Palm Desert.
The high school football season kicks off tonight as seven area teams take the field.
"I can't wait to get the season started," Palm Desert senior quarterback Christian Fedorchenko said.
The Mercury Bowl is unique because schools in the desert rarely face each other during the first half of the season.
But earlier this year, both Palm Springs and Palm Desert couldn't find an opponent to play this week.
Some potential foes were too far away. Others were mismatches. Many didn't want to travel here and battle the heat as well as the Indians or Aztecs.
The two schools decided to play each other when they learned they were both stuck with the heat.
"We're not going to escape from it," Fabian said, "so we might as well have fun with it."
Fabian huddled with Palm Desert coach Pat Blackburn, and they coined the game the Mercury Bowl.
Many football games are storied because of the weather, but usually subzero, not triple-digit temperatures, provide the backdrop.
It was 13 below zero at Lambeau Field in 1967 when the Green Bay Packers defeated the Dallas Cowboys for the NFL Championship.
The game is known as the Ice Bowl.
Today, the high temperature in Palm Springs is forecast to be 110 degrees.
Fabian, 57, decided to design a trophy for the occasion. He has taught welding and metals fabrication at Palm Springs for 26 years.
He dreamed up a three-foot, exploding thermometer made of quarter-inch plate steel. One of his students drew up the precise configurations and entered them into a computer- controlled plasma cutter.
Students sanded down the steel trophy, and then Fabian painted it red, white and gold, staying in his classroom until 11 p.m Tuesday.
Football teams across the nation play for scores of eclectic trophies, including axes, bells, flags as well as a golden egg (Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State) and an iron skillet (Texas Christian vs. Southern Methodist).
But what about a giant thermometer?
"It's got to rank right up there, I'm sure," Blackburn said.
The teams will meet again Oct. 29 at Palm Desert in a game that will technically mean more. The result will count in the Desert Valley League standings, and a loss could cost a team its chance at the coveted DVL title.
But tonight's game between rivals is still significant. Palm Springs is playing its first game since winning the CIF Eastern Division title in December.
"I think it's cool that we can start off against people who just won CIF," Fedorchenko said.
The Indians know the heat will be on them.
"We have to hold up our title and stay strong," Palm Springs senior linebacker Dustin Jackson said.
