The Tradition of Pierce Football Continues
By Josie Painter
For this year, Friday night football games are over. Though the games may be done, and some may never step on the field again, the tradition of Pierce football continues. It lives on in every generation that has made every Friday night football game an unforgettable memory.
Long before the game even starts, parents and fans cover the bleachers with their blankets and chairs, marking their spots to ensure they get the best view of the game. Moms are excited to watch their boys, and dads are ready to shout at the refs. All the other community members who show up to support will yell so loudly their voices hurt the next day, and their knees will ache from jumping up and down in the stands. Neither rain nor the cold will stop them from coming to support the traditions they helped build over generations.
When the game begins, the student section will scream until they are hoarse, and the cheerleaders will cheer until the score is final. At the end of the season, it will not be just the football team that mourns the Friday night lights; it will be the entire school. When the lights shut off for the last time, a piece of Pierce High goes dormant. Next year, it will all start over again, with a few new boys, a few new starters, and a few new faces in the student section ready to carry on the tradition.
While the game goes on, if you were to look to the right of the stand or at the base of the hill, you would find groups of boys playing football. They have been told before (and probably several times after) that if they came to the games, they must sit and watch. But those boys do not want to watch the varsity play; they want to be them. So they play their own games, preparing themselves to follow in the footsteps of their role models. One day, they will run on the field and become the players they once looked up to, and continue the tradition they dreamed of long before they wore the jerseys.
Pierce High has never demanded perfection; they never expected their students to be the best. What they did expect was that they work hard and be a role model for the students who would come after them. They may not be state champions; they may not even make it to playoffs, but they have created a tradition that extends beyond the field. It is a tradition that the community built, the students uphold, and the little boys will continue.
