Wings for bats ... and balls ... and college

Wednesdays this month feature a whole new kind of athletic competition in Carroll County -- who can eat the most wings.

Or at least which school’s student body can raise the most money for its athletics department by eating the most wings and other menu items at the Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant in Westminster.

This Wednesday, North Carroll and Carroll Christian will go at it.

The students and fans who bring in the most coupons for their school between 3 and 10 p.m. will advance to the winter round. Each school will receive 15 percent of its total sales for the evening.

Considering how much food high school kids can put away, you realize this isn’t just for a few bucks.

Last week, Winters Mill took on Westminster and each school earned nearly $300. Winters Mill won, edging the Owls by just $9.39. Winters Mill will get $295.13 and Westminster, $285.74.

The contest is the brainchild of Doug Weatherholtz, the Buffalo Wild Wings manager and a former North Carroll soccer player. He said he was sitting in a meeting about other promotional contests when he started thinking about how to get high schools kids involved.

"We get a ton of high school kids in there after sporting events," Weatherholtz said. "We have a bar and we have older patrons, of course, but we mainly cater to that high-school age group. I just knew this was a good idea all the way around. Everyone wins."

The rest of the month features Francis Scott Key vs. Liberty on Oct. 15 and South Carroll vs. Century on Oct. 22.

Each school has coupons (or they can be downloaded from gatorclaw.com/bwwcoupon) and they can be copied as many times as needed. (By the way parents, alcohol does not count.)

The four fall winners go on to the winter round with two schools advancing to a final spring showdown. The school that wins the finale will receive a scholarship worth 15 percent of all the money taken in by the promotion. Weatherholtz said he will leave it up to the winning school to determine how to select the scholarship winner.

"Every (Wild Wings franchise) around the country has a focus on putting something back into the community," Weatherholtz said. "Two of these schools will get to make 15 percent (of the proceeds) three times ... and these kids are not only our future employees but we hope they will be our guests for life."

-- Katherine Dunn