Manvel High School football leaders choose pregame meal ahead of season

MANVEL, Texas (KTRK) -- High school football season kicks off in less than a month. Now is the time schools are getting all the off-the-field prep done.

The Manvel Mavericks leadership council sampled possible pregame meal options at Honore's Cajun Cafe in Manvel.

"It's actually a very underrated part of the game, Kaleb Blanton, Manvel linebacker, said. "If you eat till you can barely hold your food in, by the second quarter, you may feel tired and not perform the entire four quarters."

"It brings us together and gets us ready for the game," Avery Demery, senior defensive back, said.

The pregame meal is an important tradition for the Mavericks.

"We just pray together, eat together, have a laugh before we go out to the field to take care of business," Micah Williams, senior offensive lineman, said. There's only a few things that bond people together more than food.

"We're not just football players. We're a family, and it starts here", Frederick Kalu, senior linebacker, said. "It starts with breaking bread with each other, enjoying each other's company before we take the field."

The members of the leadership council do not take into consideration their individual tastes but rather think about what would be best for everyone on the team.

"When going through all these dishes, I think about the team," Blanton said. "I think about what would be best to enjoy and also keep you energized."

Williams added, "I know my O-Limen are going to eat whatever we have, and they are going to kill it. So I'm thinking about the overall team."

The leaders sampled two plates. One features chicken strips, and the other is cajun spiced wings.

"The wings and jambalaya, safe to say, are the winners today," Kalu said. "They weren't small either. We're athletes, and they had good size to them, jucy, amazing seasoning on them."

Blanton added, "Smoky, barbecue, sweet type of wing. I've never had this type of flavor before."

"The wings were great. I bit into them, and it was like heaven," Demery said.

The Mavericks sit down together as a team for the first time of the season on Aug. 25 before the opener against Shadow Creek.