Springdale tops Riverview in Souper Bowl as schools continue friendly competition while giving back

The “Souper Bowl” trophy made its way back across the Allegheny River, as Springdale Jr.-Sr. High School came out on top over Riverview Jr.-Sr. in their annual food drive competition.

The Souper Bowl, an homage to the NFL’s Super Bowl, kicked off in February. Springdale collected 1,600 items and Riverview came up slightly short with 1,500 items. In addition to the donated goods, cash donations were collected to buy gift cards for food banks.

“It makes (the students) feel seen, and it benefits a lot of people,” Springdale English teacher Dayna Hrin said.

Springdale students and administrators were able to enjoy the fruits of victory Thursday morning. As the “losing” team, Riverview administrators had to don Springdale’s orange-and-black colors for the day. Both schools packed vans and cars to deliver their donations to their respective food banks.

Lower Valley Community Food Bank and United Methodist Church Food Bank in Verona will receive the donations.

Riverview Principal Eric Hewitt said the administrators already are looking forward to next year’s competition.

“We are eager to get started on this next year to get the trophy back,” he said.

Riverview English teacher Michelle Walsh said the competition was created when covid restricted attendees from seeing the rivalry sports games between the schools. The students created a friendly competition to bring everyone together for a sense of social connection, she said, while giving back to the community.

“The competition is fun, and the trophy is fun to move back and forth across the bridge,” Walsh said.

Hrin said the competition helps to create leaders among the students. She sees the competition growing because next year’s event will be a tiebreaker, with each district having won once.

“Both districts love it, and these friendly competitions help foster global citizen ideas,” she said. “We can help each other.”

The effort was created through a collaboration between Springdale’s student-led organization The Future Is Mine and the Riverview Student Council. This is the second year the schools have held the friendly competition. Riverview won the Souper Bowl trophy last year. Both schools collected more than 4,000 cans.

Students hit the ground running using social media and outreach efforts to help pull in donations.

“It gets people excited to give back to their community,” said Callie Harden, a Riverview junior.

TFM president and Springdale senior Isabella Walsh said she enjoys seeing the schools come together for a good cause.

“My favorite part is giving back because that’s the main thing, and becoming one as schools,” she said.

Aside from the competitive nature of the initiative and the thrill of victory, Springdale Principal Andy Leviski said he loves seeing the students step up to give back to their community.

“It is good to see kids being leaders, and that’s the most important piece,” he said.