If you’re active on Twitter and follow @ChrisVaccaro, @SachemSchools or @SachemReport, you’ve seen the newly used hash tag #OnToVictory.
And if you’re at all familiar with Sachem’s Fight Song, you know “On To Victory” is a key line in the middle of the famed song, which has been in existence for nearly 50 years.
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Nestled between “Sachem beat ’em, Sachem win,” and “Flaming Arrows steady in their aim,” the “On To Victory” line brings completeness to the song and offers a fundamentally crisp mission of the Sachem athletic program, to win.
While we’ve been steadfast in implementing #GoArrows, which has caught on quickly during the 2012-13 school year, as well as #WeAreSachem, the district’s overall theme, it’s my hope to bring the #OnToVictory sentiment front and present in our district’s lore and tradition. I’m not just talking Twitter, I’m talking on signs in the stands, on tee-shirts, on hats, on programs. The works.
Universities like Southern California have their own famed traditional talking points. At football games, for instance, fans toss up two fingers to represent “V” for victory. We’re not USC, but We Are Sachem and that means something as I’ve said countless times. Not many schools can boast nearly 60 years of excellence, or a proud alumni base with a great outlook for the future and the ability to harness the past in a traditional retrospect.
In fact, a line from USC’s fight song goes, “Fight On for ol’ S.C./Our men Fight On to Victory …,” but Trojan Nation has been more adapt at using #FightOn as a marketing slogan for decades as opposed to #OnToVictory as I hope for Sachem.
The original “Fight On” line dates back to the early 1900s when newspaperman Olin Bird penned a story about a USC-Stanford track meet for the LA Times. While USC lost that day, Bird wrote that they “Fought on like Trojans” in his game story.
In hopes of starting the season off strong from a writing standpoint, I introduced the term “on to victory” in a game story after Sachem North football’s now historic 63-62 overtime win at home against Bay Shore. Considering Sachem quarterback Trent Crossan erupted for eight touchdowns and Sachem won the game on a two-point conversion on the final play, and that everyone left in attendance had their stomachs in a knot over the fourth quarter, it seemed right.
“Without hesitation, Sachem coach Dave Falco raised his fingers and called for two, as in the two-point conversion that would give Sachem a miraculous, yet daunting and emotional victory in Lake Ronkonkoma,” I wrote. “Crossan carried the ball again, this time to the promise land, and on to victory the Flaming Arrows marched.”
It’s that kind of spirit I want to bring to this community and this site forever. So join me and let’s march #OnToVictory together.
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro
