A lot of people at the Jersey Shore will be Cincinnati Bengals fans in Super Bowl LVI, because the team has a local product on the team.
Long-snapper Clark Harris is a New Jersey native, and after the Bengals punched their ticket to Los Angeles, Harris' step-brother belly flopped right into the snow to let out a roar of his own.
"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for him, once in a lifetime opportunity for our family," said Jim Hutchinson Jr.
The 37-year-old long-snapper played both football and basketball at Southern Regional High School in Manahawkin, near Long Beach Island. Chuck Donahue Jr., now the school's athletic director, was one of Harris' coaches.
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"It's unbelievable. I mean, I've said the word unbelievable or unreal, probably about 1,000 times since Sunday," Donohue said.
"You go to a tiny high school in a tiny beach town it's like, you know, you don't think about that kind of stuff. You don't think it's possible until somebody finally does it," said brother Braden Harris.
Clark Harris went on to play football for Rutgers. His relatives still live in Ocean and Cape May counties. They can’t all go to LA for the big game, so they’re planning a Super Bowl bash at the Jersey Shore.
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"You figure for the price of one ticket. You can throw a big party with 60 people instead of spending so much money to go out there," Braden Harris said.
Clark Harris still has a house at the Shore and comes every summer — and he always makes sure to spend time with the kids at Southern Regional’s youth football camp.
"That's one thing that's great about Clark, you know, he never he never forgot where he came from," said Donohue. "Clark is, you know, he southern Ocean County, he's 609, all the way through without a doubt."
Hutchinson said that the Super Bowl will be Harris' 216th game, after having spent 14 years in the NFL. He said it's "a career to be proud of."
All from a guy from a small beach town, now Super Bowl bound, and generating waves of excitement back home.
