Tonight, Friday, Nov. 30, the West Henderson Falcons will travel to East Henderson to take on the Eagles. Although this is usually an intense rivalry game for both teams, East made their student section theme a “purple/burgundy out” to honor former West senior Lexie Moffit. Both the players and coaches expect the Falcons to win over this county rival, refusing to let their emotions interfere with the game itself.

“It shows a lot of character about Henderson County Schools; we’re all one big community that loves each other,” senior Cameron Kanetzke said. “We’re still going to play the way we always play though. We’re going to play the way we’ve been taught from our coach. There’s 32 minutes and we’re not going to let up.”  

Head coach Joey Bryson said he shares the same sentiments as his players.

“By East doing this, it shows that there are still good people in the world,” Bryson said. “Sometimes you can use sports to bring tragedy to light. It’s nice that we have a community that supports each other, but when the lights turn on and the clock starts, we’re all about business. We’re going to play hard and compete.”

To prepare for the game, practices have been more focused on Eagle specifics.

“This week’s practices were good, focused on defense. That’s been our main focus in these early season games,” Kanetzke said. “We’ve run over the Eagles’ sets and did a mock practice of what they’re going to run so we’ll be sure to be prepared.”

In addition to practices, the players have been promoting the game over social media to encourage a large student section.

“I hope the student section is crazy tonight,” Bryson said. “We need them. People don’t realize how much support the student section is. They’re able to get the athletes pumped up and it really changes the course of the game.”

By: Emily Mertz, Editor