Heritage Hall News
Kickoff Week: A New Charger Tradition is Born
Last week, what should have been the 45th year of an old Heritage Hall tradition became the first year of a new one – "Beat Casady!" is now Kickoff Week.
The festivities officially began on Tuesday, August 30, with an opening assembly followed by an after-school snow cone party. One of the week's continuous activities, which captured the attention of the entire student body, was #icaughtlightning. When the School's mascot would appear in various locations on campus, students were encouraged to take a picture and post it with the hashtag #icaughtlightning to social media. Everyone who posted was eligible to win a big prize to be awarded during Friday's Kickoff Week assembly.
Though the weather tried to play spoiler on Wednesday night, the upper school movie night was still a success. Spirit and creativity was the theme of Thursday night's Pizza, Paint, and Pep party. Then, it was Friday – game day had finally arrived. The pep assembly began with a dodgeball game, followed by the announcement of the three #icaughtlightning winners, who got the choice to either pie a teacher in the face or receive a Fuzzy's gift card. Each student declined the gift card, to the delight of the entire student body.
After receiving her pie to the face, freshman ethics teacher Ashley Heil '09 (right) joked, "It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be; however, I did notice they put more whipped cream on my pie than the others. I also smelled like whipped cream the rest of the day."
For most though, the highlight of the assembly was the skit by the cheerleaders and a few of the football players, during which the football players did their best cheer yells, tumbling, and stunts. When asked what the team needed to do to tame the John Marshall Bears, Dawson Evans '17 responded, "All week at practice we have stressed the need to stop the run. John Marshall has a physical run game, but if we shut it down we will come out on top." Throughout the rest of the day, one could feel a palpable excitement across campus for the upcoming game.
To kickstart the fun that night, there was a tailgate with food trucks, face painting, and even some bouncy houses. At game time, the student section, most often referred to as "The Jungle," dressed in blue for the Blue Out, filled the stadium to cheer on their classmates. They were joined by parents, grandparents, alumni, and many other screaming Charger fans.
As the game began, the Chargers quickly gained the upper hand. Bryce Soberanis '18 and Chandler Shapard '18 scored touchdowns early, earning the Chargers a 14-0 lead. Touchdowns by both teams made the score 21-7. Then Santana Randle '17 scored, followed by back-to-back touchdowns by Dawson Evans '17 and a safety on John Marshall. But, the Bears didn't give up, pushing to take a one-point lead late in the 4th quarter to make the score 37-38 in the final three minutes of the game. Thanks to a last-minute Soberanis touchdown and a Randle two-point conversion, the Chargers withstood the Bears' rally and started their season with a 45-38 victory. With this win, the Chargers secured a new school and state record – 28 consecutive wins!
Following the game, Evans exclaimed, "That was a great game! We fought back and got a Charger victory." Jack Ross '17 also chimed in, saying, "Number 11 is a big guy! We faced adversity, and that was good for us."
Proud of his team's performance, Head Coach Brett Bogert '05 said, "The guys showed a lot of heart and that hard work really pays off. We didn't panic when we went down. The captains showed leadership, taking us down the field to get the winning touchdown."
After getting a chance to enjoy the big Charger win, several students took time to reflect on the week that was and on the new tradition of Kickoff Week. "Everyone was really into it," Makenzi English '17 remarked. "It was a good start to a new tradition."
"It was fun," Michael McLaughlin '17 added.
Overall, Kickoff Week turned out to be full of excitement and spirited fun – a great way for a new Charger tradition to begin.
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