CROMWELL - Football is big in Cromwell, but its history in town is relatively short. Next month mill mark the 10th anniversary of Panthers football with a celebratory fundraiser.

       The Cromwell Panther Football Club, a group of parents along with plenty of town support, began fundraising the $30,000 required to start a football program in town in 2000, said club President Eileen Fitzgerald.

       â€�"The youth program was so strong in Cromwell--a lot of the players played in youth and then didn’t have anything else to do,” she said.

       About 35 Panthers came out for the first junior varsity season in 2001 under head coach Sal Morello.

       Two years of a varsity program â€�"gave us a chance to grow and two years to understand the coach’s system and what the expectations were going to be on and off the field,” Morello said.

       The first Panther football players, some of whom were upperclassmen who would never see a full varsity season, played their first varsity game on Thanksgiving Day in 2002, the last game of the season.

       â€�"I always say those kids that came out to pay those first two years…the kids that sacrificed two years to play one varsity football game, really set the foundation for our football program,” Morello said.

       Morello expected slow growth in the team’s first varsity season in 2003.

       â€�"The first varsity season was something that I never dreamed of--we wen’t 11-0 and had our first playoff game,” he said. â€�"Football programs pop up everywhere and you just never hear of these teams going undefeated [in their first season].

       â€�"You sit back and go ‘wow those kids were special.’ I always say I was blessed with great kids; kids like Chris Lorenti that were just natural leaders,” he said. â€�"They just believed in the coaches. Those kinds of kids don’t come around all the time.”

       In 2008 the Panthers took home a state title, before Morello joined the Middletown program in 2009.

       â€�"Ten years go by and you soot back a little bit and you’re just in awe of what the kids were able to accomplish,” he said.

       Off the field, the players can be found taking part in community projects, most recently doing some maintenance work at Rook Retirement Community. In return, the community gives back, with many parent and business sponsors, especially Brothers Autobody and Connecticut Lighting, Fitzgerald said.

       This year, the football club is raising money to dedicate the press box at Pierson Park to longtime Panthers announcer Kevin Greene, who recently passed away.

       The Cromwell Panthers Football 10 Year Fundraiser will be held June 14, 6:30- 11 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza of Cromwell. Past and present players and coaches will be in attendance. Tickets are $50/person, $40/alumni. CPFC- P.O. Box 226, Cromwell, CT 06416 or cromwell.panthers@gmail.com .