They come. They eat. They leave.
Every Thursday at 5:45 p.m., the Oceanside High varsity football team — coaches included, about 50 players strong — files into Elks Lodge #1561 at 444 Country Club Lane.
By 6:30 p.m., they are gone.
The team digs into six large trays of food, accompanied by eight loaves of French rolls, pitchers of lemonade and fruit punch, and, of course, dessert—all provided gratis by the Elks Lodge. On August 28, the night before they traveled to Carlsbad for a game, the menu was spaghetti and garlic bread; a week earlier, before the season opener, it was chili mac and cheese.
According to Lodge Secretary Pat Raetz, the weekly cost of providing the meals is approximately $250.
“A good part of our membership is from Oceanside,” Raetz said. “A lot of them have been a part of Oceanside High School, so they are alumni, and they like the idea of helping out our team.”
The meal — mandatory for the players — was instituted by head coach Fale Poumele in his first season leading the Pirates in 2023. Its origins trace back to the late 1990s, when Poumele was a running back on Oceanside’s CIF championship teams of 1997 and 1999, with his brother Se’e at quarterback.
In those days, the Poumele brothers’ mother would open the doors of their home, feeding the team heaping portions of spaghetti the night before kickoff, with an aunt lending a hand.
“It started when Coach Fale became head coach three years ago,” said Nate Tafao, who does multimedia work for the Pirates football team and doubles as creative director for the San Diego Strike Force. “His mom would open the Poumele house and feed the whole football team. Coach Fale wanted to bring that same sense of tradition and family back to Oceanside.”
Loaded with a full complement of linemen — several tipping the scales at or above 300 pounds — it’s no surprise the team can put away a full meal.
Lincoln Mageo, a six-foot-four, 280-pound junior lineman and team captain, said his favorite Elks Lodge dinner is spaghetti with garlic bread.
“I think any time our team is able to do something together it’s a good thing,” Mageo said. “It’s cool for the Elks Lodge to open their doors to us every week for our team meals. I think a few of the head people over there are Oceanside alum, so that’s really cool because, like they say, once a Pirate, always a Pirate.”
Senior wide receiver Kymani Nua, who has eight catches for 196 yards and a touchdown through the season’s first two games, echoed Mageo, pointing to spaghetti as his top choice.
“It is definitely a great opportunity, and we as a whole team are very thankful for the people at the Elks Lodge for providing a place and food for us before games,” Nua said. “We get to bond as a team there, talk about goals, and the people are always welcoming.”
Leftovers are hard to imagine, but according to Raetz, to-go boxes are a regular occurrence.
“For some of these kids, it’s one of the best meals of the week, and if someone wants to take food home, we let them,” Raetz said. “We also help out the swim team, water polo, and cross country. When they have awards or events, we open the lodge so they can have a meal and recognize outstanding students.”
“There is a lot of love in the room,” added Tafao.
Oceanside opened the season on the road with back-to-back losses, falling 45-29 at Granite Hills on Aug. 22 and 48-14 at Carlsbad the following week.
The Pirates are back on the road this Friday at Mission Hills and will play their first home game of the season at John Carroll Stadium, hosting Helix on Sept. 12.
Last season, Oceanside ran the table with a perfect 6-0 mark in league play [7-4 on the season] to capture the Valley League title before falling 42-35 to Del Norte in the opening round of the Division I section playoffs.
With a new quarterback under center — sophomore Anthony Barquinero, following the graduation of Joseph Vinup — the Pirates hope to find their rhythm on the field. Off the field, the meals at the Elks Lodge will continue — same time, same place.
