The Iowa High School Football championships will be played today and tomorrow at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls. High school football, with it’s cheerleaders, marching bands and Homecoming traditions is part coming-of-age, part serious sport marked by chilly night games played under the lights.

Theron Hopkins set out across the country on a 20-week coast-to-coast exploration of high school football, along the way finding the heart and drama that makes it unique. Traveling from summer practice to a series of state championships, he discovers that what takes place under the lights is only a part – and maybe not even the best part – of what makes high school football so important and beloved by the people who watch it, coach it and play it.

The 80-Yard Run visits schools big and small, from all parts of the country and includes a stopover with the Bettendorf Bulldogs as they prepare to take on Davenport North (2003 season) Other stories range from the coach at Great Falls, Minnesota who uses his own money to purchase weight equipment for the team to Waldport, Oregon with just 14 players on the varsity team to football-crazy Massillon, Ohio where the president of the booster club puts a tiny toy football into every baby boy’s crib at the hospital.