Get Hyped!

By: Andy Belilos

Sentry Staff Reporter

Up until last year, there has always been a senior section behind the endzone during football games. This group of cheering and screaming students was always the life of the game and often gave a morale boost to players when they were losing or in a close game. However, this year, the student section was moved to the stands by the Hype Squad.

Throughout this season, the aptly named Hype Squad has done an admirable job bringing intensity in the stands for both home and away football games. Despite the best efforts of the students, they cannot match the intensity of the former senior section. Even with the best efforts of all the students in the new student section, it is just not the same as in past years.

I have been going to our football games since I was in sixth grade, and they have always been a fun and social event for everyone there. Many students take the game as more of a social event than anything else, which is fine, but it is very necessary to have that essence of emotion and thrill towards the game.

I firmly believe that our football team would not be the perennial power that they are without the continued support of the student body and community. There is no question that our fans are great. There was just something about the senior section on the field that brought the excitement, and well, hype, to the game.

The jumping mosh pit of seniors that were giving up their vocal cords for the next day just to help pump up the team was special and, frankly, the student section in the stands never had the potential to equal that. It is just too far away from the action to really assert its will on the game. Unless a school has thousands of students in the student section like a college, it is just not possible to bring the same energy.

I am convinced that if you polled an opposing team and asked which student section was more intimidating, the answer would always be the one on the field. I play football, and if I saw something like that on the other side of the field, my only thought would be, “Dang, that looks good. Why don’t we have one? Do our fans not care?” Those are the kind of thoughts that can win or lose games, and we want them on the other side.

When the Hype Squad chose to get rid of the senior section, I was disappointed. Moreover, according to Activities Director Michael Qrufild, head football coach Bruce Hanson actually prefers having the students in the endzone so that that the players can hear the fans.

If this change is permanent and the students are in the stands for the foreseeable future, there are things that can be done in the new student section to give it a similar effect. Whenever I watch college football, the thing that I think is really cool is how they are actually color coordinated. This season, when it was a blackout at Greenbriar Stadium, I remember seeing tons of people wearing other colors.

Come on people! Is it really that difficult to change your shirt or sweatshirt? If you do watch any of these college games, the effect that is reached when everyone is color coordinated is truly awesome. If we could do that at our games, It would go a long way to really getting the team hyped.

In the end, all that the fans can do is root on their team and hope for the best. Even so, Yorktown: we can do better. When I am on the field on friday nights for the next two years, I can only hope that my fellow classmates are on the field cheering my teammates and me on, because that is what will help the team the most.

 

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