The Sunnyslope Vikings lost to Cactus High School 32-41 on August 25th, but even more disappointing than the loss was our student section.
The Vikings fell behind early in the first half, and onlookers could visibly see the lack of enthusiasm in the crowd.
Students stopped cheering, refused to stand, and outright left.
As the game continued into the 4th quarter, Sunnyslope started to make a comeback.
Sunnyslope’s Green Team and a select number of seniors chanted with each tackle and touchdown that the Vikings made.
Senior Quarterback Luke Moga as well as other varsity players even came up to the stands to try to hype up the crowd.
Even so, they completely failed in trying to revive the dead atmosphere we call a student section.
Before the game was over, the stands had more empty seats than full ones.
While it is okay to feel disappointed that our team is losing, we can’t allow this to become a habit in how we support our football team.
As a school, we should strive to support our football team.
I promise that this isn’t a hard job.
All we need to do is show up to the game, stand up, cheer a few times, and stay until the end.
However, it isn’t entirely our student section’s fault that morale is low.
There are several changes we could make to improve the atmosphere of our football games.
For one, our Green Team could be louder.
They put in the effort to cheer and get our student section excited, but they’re far too quiet.
Freshman Alexander Shmitt said, “I couldn’t even hear the cheers.”
To be clear, this isn’t their fault.
The group is made up of only a few students and the stands are far too loud for a regular voice to be heard.
To aid the Green team, several students made suggestions.
“We could give them a megaphone,” said Freshman Nash Denton.
This would solve the problem of students not being able to hear the chants.
“I think the Green Team needs to have signs of the chants,” said Freshman Wess Griffin.
Signs provide a way for students who can’t hear the chants to participate.
The other issue with our student section is a lack of participation in the younger grades.
Freshman Noah Rapuano said, “There were barely any freshmen in color themes.”
This is a problem.
On top of the lack of cheering and empty stands, there’s little to no participation in our school themes.
We need to make sure that each grade participates in football games so that we can create a fun environment.
Hopefully, Sunnyslope’s student section will heed some of these suggestions and be able to return to its usual form for the next home game on the 22nd against Desert Eagle.