The Cougars played their homecoming football game against long-time rivals, the Heritage Huskies Oct. 14. The stadium was packed with eager students waiting to see who would win the rivalry game and to see the winners of the homecoming court.

Prior to the beginning of the game, CBS-17 ran a tailgate at the school to get students excited and ready for the game. They served food from Bojangles, gave away gift bags and had games. The tailgate helped bring the energy to the students before the game even began.

“At the tailgate I got an interview from CBS-17, but I was just really excited for the game,” senior Will Wrenn said. Wrenn is the 2022-23 Mr. Cougar who leads the Cougar Crazies.

Also contributing to the excitement, social media riled students up. On the wfcougarcrazies Instagram page, posts are made to notify students about the game’s theme as well as events occurring prior to the start of the game.

“Social media will definitely increase the hype with student sections posting their support and fans being vocal about who they think will win,” senior Gavin McCuen said. “It also can increase tensions as fans get into fights online over who’s better, but that just increases the hype further as the game will definitively prove who is better.”

As tensions and excitement reached its peak, students were ready for the players to take the field. With this being the biggest game of the season, the pressure was on. Students were anxious of what the outcome would be and how both teams would play.

“I was pretty excited because I know that our rivalry against Heritage is a big deal for our school, and I wanted to beat them so badly,” freshman Sam Gardiner said.

The game was also a big moment for different reasons.

“I was really excited before the game because it was the first rival game in the new stadium, so I knew the student section would be rowdy and fun,” sophomore Maggie Sullivan said.

Seniors were especially excited to witness one of the last rivalry games in their high school career.

“I was pretty hyped. Probably like a nine out of ten because I knew it was gonna be our biggest game, and it’s senior year, so I knew it was gonna be really fun and crazy,” senior Ella Bowman said.

Once the game started, however, students soon saw that this game was going to be a good one.

“I think the game was in the Cougars favor as soon as they started consistently scoring touchdowns very early in the game,” McCuen said. “It proved that Heritage’s defense couldn’t hold up and that the game would not go in their favor at all.”

By halftime, the Cougars were in the lead with a score of 20 to seven. This left students wondering how the rest of the game would play out.

“They did so well in the first half that I was worried they would let Heritage get ahead in the second. They managed to hold their ground, though, which is good,” Gardiner said.

Along with it being the biggest game yet, it was also the homecoming game. During halftime, the homecoming court takes the field and gets recognized. The homecoming king and queen were voted by the students.

“I was actually really hyped because I was on the homecoming court, but I was also really nervous,” sophomore Cuyler Buchanan said.

For the past 13 years, this rival game’s theme has always been a blackout. Students get into the spirit of the game by dressing up for the theme and getting creative.

“I did like the black out because it was homecoming too, and I was on the court. I wore an all black suit, and I thought it looked nice, so I’ll say black out,” Wrenn said.

Overall, students enjoyed attending the football game. After an entire season on the road last year during renovation, fans relished the time spent together at home.
“My favorite memory is just being able to hang out with my friends and enjoy the game,” McCuen said. “Everyone had a lot of fun being able to see each other and watch the Cougars kill the game.”