This last week the Bearcats participated in a series of festivities surrounding the annual rivalry fight against the Atascadero High School Grey Hounds. Throughout the week Bearcats prepared for not only the Friday football game, but also a pep rally on Thursday and a “Pound the Hounds Dance,” directly following the game.

The entire campus was alive with preparation and excitement for the upcoming events: band students along with choir students worked constantly to meliorate their songs, the dance team created several different dances for each of the events, leadership diligently planned the pep rally and set up the dance, cheerleaders practiced everyday to perfect their halftime show, and perform at the pep rally, and of course the football team worked tirelessly all week preparing for the most exciting event of all — the football game.

Pep Rally

The first Pep Rally of the year took place in the Gil Asa gym during Thursday tutorial. It was a momentous occasion– considering half of the school has never experienced a pep rally on campus due to the pandemic. Tickets were handed out in the quad in the days leading up to the event so that students could “travel” to the gym for the pep rally.

Juniors Olivia Wright and Cameron Clayton both MC’d the pep rally and kept the energy high throughout the entire event.

“The overall experience of being the MC was absolutely amazing. I would not have thought this going into the pep rally because I was so freakin nervous. But the whole vibe and flow of it made my nerves go down instantly,” Wright said. “Seeing how involved and happy everyone was to be there made it so easy to talk and want to get them hyped.”

Wright is the directors of activities for leadership, so she not only had to prepare to MC for the pep rally, but she also was responsible for planning it. That includes writing a script, thinking of and finalizing decorations, and communicating with teachers, sports and students to participate in the rally. From the various games, to the different performances–Wright was in charge of it all. During the pep rally there were multiple student athlete testimonies from the captains of fall sports who gave a re cap of their season so far. There were also a couple games played during the rally. Teachers participated in a competitive musical chairs where the football coach, Mathew Carroll won.

“The best thing about MCing was seeing everyone so pumped to be there and joining in on the rally games. Going in I honestly thought not many people were going to enjoy it, but I think a lot of people did,” Wright said.

The attendance was overwhelming as the gym housed 1,000 students in the bleachers surrounding the boarder of the gym. All of the students were alive with enthusiasm as they cheered and danced while they were packed in the stands like sardines.

“I say I think a lot of people enjoyed it because I saw smiles on people’s faces, people cheering for their fellow team captains or friends when in a game, and I think because of this out come, more people will already be excited for the next rally coming up in 4 weeks,” Wright said.

photos by Jocelyn Lopez, Kayla Degnan and Zaira Gomez

Football Game

Now, the event we have all been waiting for…the game! War Memorial stadium was a buzz with chatter and enthusiasm Friday night as the bearcats battled hard against the hounds. The bearcats started off with a strong lead after the first quarter with a score of 7-0. Touchdown was scored by senior Devin Mowreader #45. The momentum continued as senior Jake Morones #3 scored the second touchdown to make the score 14-0 by half time.

Senior Andrew Olsen #81 who plays tight end/defensive end felt anxious leading up to the game, but he had confidence in himself and his teammates because the had “a solid week of practice leading up to the game,” (Olsen).

“We all knew we wanted to win, and it showed during the game. I think you could tell we wanted to win more than them, and that’s how we played,” Olsen said.

The bearcats pulled through with a dub. The final score was 21-6.

photos by Ashley Paulsen and Zaira Gomez

Dance

Directly following the victorious win against the Hounds, bearcat students assembled in the Flamson Middle School quad to dance the night away. Close to 200 Bearcats attended the event.

Along with the rally, this was the first high school dance for many attendees. Both sophomores and freshman never had the opportunity to go to a high school dance due to the pandemic, so it was definitely a night to remember. The outdoor setting allowed students the choice to not wear a mask.