By Angelina Herrera & Mariyah Ramirez
Friday September 9, the Granada Hills Charter (GHC) varsity football team ran out to the field to the thunderous cheers of a sold out crowd.
The game against rival Kennedy High School was the first home game of the season with people in the stands since 2019.
GHC brought home Tina, the trophy traded between us and our rival Kennedy with a whopping score of 62-18.
The GHC side of John Elway Stadium was filled with excitement.
“We show school spirit through chants, yelling, and even heckling while we’re at the football games,” Jungle leader and senior Max Endler said. “Having the presence of students filling the stands exemplifies our spirit for our school and most importantly, our sports teams.”
The Jungle made this game a black-out where students attending wore all black as a way to show support for our team.
Right up front and in the center, senior girls had the letters of Granada spelled out on each of their stomachs. This made a great visual to go with the excitement of the crowd.
Jungle leaders announce and prepare the theme for each game through their social media accounts.
Although the emphasis is on seniors, students from all grade levels took part in the black-out.
Parents were equally delighted to see their children and their peers take the win against Kennedy. Parents missed out on watching their children play during the pandemic, so the parent enthusiasm was contagious for the rest of the crowd when the Highlanders scored.
“I’m proud of my son for being on the varsity team and continuing to show his dedication for football,” Jesus Plazola, the father of senior Joseph Plazola said.
There were also parents of the dance and cheer teams happy to see their children demonstrating their skills.
“I came to support the Granada team and more importantly the dance team,” Luis Cervantes, whose daughter is on the dance team, said.
The football players were definitely more motivated to win as their first home game was against our rival school. The scheduled first home game would have been against Palisades Charter High School, but it was canceled due to the heatwave.
The energy of playing against a rival and with a sold-out crowd clearly worked as they brought home Tina.
“Knowing that people are seeing me play makes me want to give them something to watch and show how good we can be. I say it makes us play better so we can live to an expectation of being great,” senior Antonio Ochoa said.
Whether the players play at home or away, they always do their best to give it their all and show what GHC represents through playing football.
“No matter where we go we take the name of our school with us,” senior Joseph Plazola said.
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