Manheim Central High School's Barons football team is just as formidable off the field as on.

The Barons took on a challenge to raise funds with an impromptu car wash Saturday for the cash-strapped Panthers of Pine Ridge High School in Volusia County, Fla.

Barons Coach Mike Williams said Tuesday he's proud of how hard his players worked for people they never met.

"It's one of my most memorable days as a coach," he said. "We try to teach (players) values, hard work, giving back is important. Our community supports the team, we can give back.

"I vowed when I started coaching that no kid who wanted to play football would not play because of money. There is no reason we can't help others," Williams said. "We just hope they'll do well. We helped them play, and that's the main thing."

He learned about the athletic cuts at Pine Ridge while visiting his daughter-in-law, who serves as an assistant principal in the county on Florida's Atlantic Coast.

Manheim-area motorists might have wondered why, but they responded to the Barons who were in the streets flagging drivers into a car wash on a Saturday morning. When the residents were told the money was to help players from another team, they gave.

The requested donation was $5 per vehicle, but Williams said everyone gave more. Some donated as much as $100 to help out the Panthers. The event raised more than $1,600, enough to fund 22 players at Pine Ridge. Worley & Obetz Inc., 85 White Oak Road, donated the site and supplies.

"Growing up in Manheim, we had everything paid for. To think about not being able to play simply because your school can't afford it, that should be the last thing that would keep you from playing," Dan Trafford, a senior running back for the Barons, said Tuesday. "I don't have to meet them to know they need help."

Facing an $11 million deficit, the Volusia County School District instituted a pay-to-play program. Students must pay $75 to participate in a sport or $100 for two sports. The money is also needed to prepare the fields and hire the officials.

Times, however, are difficult in the community, where the unemployment rate climbed to 12 percent and more than 50 percent of students receive reduced or free lunches because of inadequate family income.

"There are some people who can't afford it," Tom Russell, principal of Pine Ridge, said Tuesday. "Last spring, we almost had to drop all of our jayvee sports and arts program. We are in that position, and we've been told we have to find a way."

Russell said the school district has lost funding because of the housing foreclosure crisis in Florida. As families lost their jobs and homes, the enrollment dropped from 2,800 students to 2,200.

Russell now sees two or three families living in the same house, and he has made calls to area churches to ask for food donations.

"Things I never thought I would see," said Russell. "It's been a tough year."

He thanked the Barons and the people of Manheim for supporting a positive alternative for youth.

"A child can either throw a ball or a rock. I want them to throw a ball," said Russell.