Hilltoppers celebrate the Super Bowl in style

By Kristen Farhat

A long line at West Brighton’s Philly Pretzel Factory meant only one thing -the Super Bowl was approaching. Whether it was booking a flight to Arizona to see the game in person or purchasing an 85-inch TV to enjoy it at home, people were going to great lengths to prepare for the big game.

St. Joseph Hill Academy celebrated the big game with a Soup-A-Bowl food drive. Hill girls dressed up in sports jerseys and donated food items to be delivered to St. Adalbert-St. Roch Parish Food Pantry. For Hill girls, there was no better way to prepare for the Super Bowl than to do good for others.

Super Bowl LVII, held on Sunday, February 12, was between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. Both teams were the top seeds of their respective conferences and had the same win to loss record (14-3) in the regular season. Additionally, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts both had great runs this season, procuring nominations for the NFL MVP award.

Although the playing field seemed to be level, most people put their money on the Eagles and the odds seemed to be in their favor. With 11 seconds left in the game, however, the Chiefs secured a 38-35 win over the Eagles with a good 27 yard field goal attempt.

So how did the Chiefs win a game nobody believed they could win? A fumble by Jalen Hurts in the second quarter, recovered by Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton, certainly helped. Bolton was able to score a touchdown and eradicate the Eagles’ 7-point lead. Another factor was the underperformance of the Eagles’ defense. Coming off of the regular season with 70 sacks, the most by a team this season and a franchise record for the Eagles, their defense was expected to outperform the Chiefs’ offense. Yet they weren't able to get a single sack on Mahomes.

In one of the last instrumental plays, a penalty on Eagles cornerback James

Bradberry for defensive holding resulted in an automatic first down for the Chiefs. This gave them the downs they needed to use up the final 2 minutes of the game and ensure their scoring drive was the last.

The Chiefs were not foreigners to this national stage, having made three Super Bowl appearances in recent years, all with Patrick Mahomes as their quarterback. They won Super Bowl LIV in 2020 against the San Francisco 49ers and lost the following year to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Before these appearances, however, the Chiefs had not been in the Super Bowl since 1970, so fans have been very satisfied with the past several years.

In other matters, singer Rihanna took to the stage for the first time in 5 years to perform in the halftime show. Dressed in all red and accompanied by dancers in puffy white coats, Rihanna delivered a set list of 12 songs. To end the show, Rihanna sang “Diamonds” while suspended 60 feet up in the night sky. She later revealed she was not the only one on that suspended platform in announcing her pregnancy to the public.