Football

By Kaye Puhakka

The Stamford Hornets Junior football team came out with a victory on

Friday, October 22. The team fought hard as the sun came and went.
Not long after game start, the Westlane Spartans scored a touchdown
and then a field goal. The crowd got really into the game as the
cheerleaders encouraged the fans to get loud. Near the mid way point,
our Stamford Hornets scored a touch down. The fans were a chorus of
shouts as the players celebrated on the field. Not long after,
Westlane ran in a touch down. The Hornets then tried to run it back,
accompanied by shouts from the crowd, but were unsuccessful. As the
game began to wrap up, the temperature dropped and the wind blew.
Spectators were cold and shivering but stuck it out to cheer on the
mighty Hornets. The final score was 13-6 (?) for Westlane but Stamford
won by default. The Westlane team had seniors in their lineup and as
this is not permitted, were forced to forfeit.

I talked to Mr Martin, senior coach, before the game start. When asked

what he expected of the game he replied with, "The juniors have been
playing well. We have an athletic and talented group of kids. We have
a nice group of grade tens and are looking forward to future years. I
think they're going to do well." I asked him about the ways that the
Hornets have been working to improve their game, to which he replied,
"Execution. Eliminating mental mistakes. Generally the team that makes
the least mistakes is the team that wins. [Our philosophy] is to control the play on offence and defence. To do what we do well, and eliminate what the other team does well."

The cheerleaders jumped, leapt and cheered the Hornets to victory. Coach, Mrs. Martin, said that the cheerleaders have been working hard to raise school spirit at football games. I took some time to speak with grade nine cheerleader, Tristyn Clark.
What is the most fun thing about cheering at a game?

"I like it when we cheer them on and they win and how excited we get. It's fun to show off our stunts. I love doing basket tosses.”

The students of Stamford are looking forward to seeing more of the cheerleaders’ and football players’ hard work as the season continues through the cool weather.