As daunting and formidable as they appeared, in the end, the major obstacles students face when reading - represented by teachers clad in football jerseys and holding signs that read "Doesn't Make Sense," "Hard Words" and "Too Long" - stood no match for a group of Georgia Southern Eagles on a mission.

After lining up face-to-face on a make-shift gridiron, Eagle football players tackled the obstacles, or teachers, standing before them - showing students that they too could succeed - and scored a win for reading, as youngsters looked on in the Mattie Lively Elementary School Gym Wednesday.

The kooky program was part of the school's birthday celebration of beloved children's author Dr. Seuss, or Theodor Seuss Geisel, and provided the culmination of a day's worth of activities to promote reading.

"Today is Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss' birthday. We are celebrating reading with special visitors from Georgia Southern who are going to help us get excited for reading," said Mattie Lively Principal Jennifer Quick.

"It is a day we celebrate every year, and each time we try to do something different and encourage the kids to read more and more."

Wednesday, Mattie Lively classes passed a Dr. Seuss book - not before reading it - from classroom to classroom, with the ultimate goal of having it be delivered to "the coach" ( a cardboard cut out of Dr. Seuss) by day's end.

That delivery was officially made when the surprise football guests outplayed their competition, overcame the obstacles and scored.

"Our committee, this year, wanted to incorporate a sports theme, tie in community resources and show that everybody is interested in reading, not just elementary students," said Quick. "Our theme today is score with reading. So we are bringing in football players to get the book into the end zone to score. That's our goal for the day."

After just three plays, the group of Eagles - Boyd Sasser, Billy Greer, Brent Thomas, Jaybo Shaw and others - delivered on that goal, getting the book to "Coach Seuss" at the field's end.

The students, some dressed as Seuss characters like "Thing 1," "Thing 2" and "The Cat in the Hat," erupted with applause and laughter as the Eagles toppled their teachers.

Mattie Lively students then raised hands and participated in an oath to reading.

"I promise to read...each day and each night," they said in unison. "I know it is the key, to growing up right."
The program, according to Quick, is one of many ways in which the school is trying to promote reading to its students.

"Reading is very important and doing it from an early age is especially important. We are incorporating that into our desire to educate our kids as much as we can," she said. "It is very important to raise their enthusiasm and have them excited about reading. So we try different strategies, like today's program, to get them to want to read more at school and at home."

The effort, she said, was part of the National Education Association's 13th annual "Read Across America Day."
Students in Bulloch County, and throughout the country, participated in events to encourage reading Wednesday, and various other days during the week.

Book fairs and dress-up days were held early in the week by Brooklet and Stilson Elementary Schools, as part of the annual reading event.

Nevils Elementary will host a skit and serve Seuss birthday cake later in the week; students at Sallie Zetterower will be presented with a musical put on by Statesboro High School students, and Langston Chapel Elementary is inviting all men to read to students as part of a "Real Men Read" program Friday.

Many other reading events have been scheduled or carried out by Bulloch elementary schools this week.

At Mattie Lively, Statesboro High football players read books to students prior to their assembly, said Quick.

The Seuss book that was passed around the school will be signed by the Georgia Southern players and placed in the school's library.

Jeff Harrison can be reached at 912-489-9454.