APOLLO, Pa. -- Football played on Friday nights is almost always about more than wins and losses.

Last night at Apollo-Ridge High School it was about life and death.

The school retired the jerseys of two former players, Joshua Henry and Michael R. Girdano, who died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Before the ball was teed up, about 1,000 people at Owens Field for the home opener against Summit Academy stood and cheered for the fallen soldiers.

"It's overwhelming. It's difficult, yet it's uplifting," said Robert Girdano, whose 23-year-old son died Aug. 1 in a roadside bombing in Chowkay Valley, Afghanistan.

Michael Girdano graduated from Apollo-Ridge in 2003, then fulfilled his boyhood dream of attending the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. He graduated from West Point last year as a second lieutenant and was on his first assignment as a platoon commander when he was killed.

Lt. Girdano made straight A's in high school and lettered in football for three years. He wore No. 22.

During his sophomore year, Apollo-Ridge won the Allegheny Conference championship. One of his teammates that season was senior lineman Josh Henry.

Josh joined the Army soon after graduating from Apollo-Ridge in 2001 and rose to the rank of specialist. His career goal was to be an elementary school teacher. Service in the Army was supposed to be one part of his life's journey before college, but it didn't work out that way.

Spc. Henry died on Sept. 20, 2004, in Tikrit, Iraq, when insurgent gunmen attacked his convoy. He was 21.

Eight years have passed since he played his last football game at Owens Field. He wore No. 65.

"It's hard to come back," said his father, Larry Henry. "These boys, Josh and Mike, they worked hard out here. They worked hard all through their lives."

In their short-sleeved jerseys on a late-summer night, Apollo-Ridge players displayed a tribute to Lt. Girdano and Spc. Henry. They wrote "22" on their left arms and "65" on their right arms.

But head coach John Simon said he did not speak about the soldiers during his pregame talk to the team.

"Josh and Mike wouldn't want me to make anymore of it. They would say, 'It's time to play football,' " the coach said.

Many in the crowd wore T-shirts with photographs of Lt. Girdano, Spc. Henry or both. Tears fell freely when high school Principal Chris Clark took the microphone and told of each player's short life and death.

The jerseys of Lt. Girdano and Spc. Henry were placed in glass cases as large as picture windows. Four of their former teammates carried these onto the field. Starting next week, the framed jerseys will be displayed in the high school lobby.

Apollo-Ridge, which graduates about 90 students a year, also lost a third alumnus in the war. He was Army Staff Sgt. Stevon A. Booker, a member of the class of 1987. A career soldier, Sgt. Booker was 34 when he died in combat in Iraq in 2003.

Sgt. Booker's mother, Freddie Jackson, still lives in Apollo. She said the kindness of townspeople helped her get through the wrenching days after her son's death.

Robert Girdano knows the feeling.

"None of the days have been easy. Some are harder than others," he said.

But last night, as the town geared up for football season, it paused to remember two boys who played hard for the Apollo-Ridge Vikings, then went to war for their country.