Alder’s Kickoff to a Grand Season
Alder’s first game of the season at Philo.
September 19, 2019
There is nothing quite like a football game–the hair-raising competition between schools, the rambunctious crowds, the food. The start of this season has gone well–the team is undefeated. The beginning of what’s sure to be a gripping season took place at home. As returning graduate Elijah Beachy commented, “The air was electric tonight, I do say so myself.” Making headway into the start of the season, Alder beat Marion Harding 35-21 and Plilo 24-16 the week before. Last week, they played Bloom Carroll and won with a score of 42-13.
Wyatt Kaizer, a Freshman on the football team, is supportive of the team. He said before the Plilo game, “I think It’ll be a pretty close game, pretty tight, I think Philo’s a pretty good team, but we’re gonna beat them.”
Although the certainty of winning for Alder was clear for this game, the support of fans attending the Philo game was in question. Josh Kaeser, a Junior on the football team, said, “I don’t think people will, maybe like ten, I wouldn’t show up.” This grim prediction was luckily well undershot with overfilled seating for the student section and normal seating on the away side.
This game also represented some firsts and lasts. Madison Shaw, a Senior in band, reminisced on this being the start of her last marching band season: “It’s bittersweet, I guess, I’m excited, but I’m not ready for it to be over.” Although this represents the beginning of the end for Shaw, for some it’s the first time experiencing a football game as a high school student. Wyatt Kaizer expressed some excitement about his first football game as a high schooler: “Well, I’m not going to be there so, sure.”
The next week was Alder’s first home game against Marion Harding. Assistant band director, Ms. Lewis, commentated on the football team’s progress during the game: “So far the Pioneers are doing well, they’re protecting their line and they’re making advances down the field. I’m excited to see how this game goes today and hopefully, we come out with a win.”
Along with the football team doing considerably well, the marching band had their third performance of the year during the Marion Harding game. Cam Skidmore, a returning graduate of the marching band commentated on the halftime show: “The band looked really good and sounded really good.”
The band’s growth in size has been the most noticeable on the field, as this is the first year there have been enough squads to create the sixth line. Mr. Hennig reflected on the band and football team’s performance after the game, “It was a great first [home] game, you know, I think that everybody had a good showing, the Band did a fantastic job as always. The football team, I was thoroughly impressed with. They really showed up tonight. I was very proud to see their progress over the past week. I would like to see a little more unity from the school as a whole, just making sure they’re all tuned in, and supporting each other between all the different groups because that’s what we’re known for, and that’s what we’re best at. So, looking forward to another home game here in a few weeks.”
Last year at this point in the season Alder had a win-lose streak of 1.5-1. The next game is Friday, September 20th at Urbana. The following week, September 27th, is the next home game–and Jonathan Alder’s homecoming weekend.
