“Wiggalo wi-wi-galo.” The bleachers fill in and the fans are hype to watch the football game. After completing your quizzes earlier that afternoon and knowing you get to sleep in after an action packed football game, everyone looks forward to Fridays. The stands are packed with students wearing face paint and everyone is decked out in the theme. It’s 9 p.m and the night is still young as all the fans congregate at G-square, waiting for plans to be made.
Now, not so much. A majority of this is now taken away because select games are pushed back to Thursday nights, leaving these Fridays filled with boredom.
It’s my senior year and I was looking forward to the fall football season the whole summer, just to find out we only have five Friday games, with only three of them being at home. Although this may make us cherish the home games we do have, it eliminates fall fun and spirit. Every year, students are excited all week, but this new scheduling makes my senior year feel different.
Not only does this impact the fans, but also the football players.
“I don’t like it at all because no one is going to go and it makes us think about having school the next day,” senior captain Dylan Minnick said.
In addition, Friday night games mean getting ready before and hanging out after the game. However, students will have homework and are going to have to go to bed at a reasonable time for school the next day, which will deplete the number of fans.
Surprisingly, at the home game on Sept. 22, there was a big turnout despite it being a Thursday night, and the crowd was loud. However, many students started to leave at halftime because it was a school night.
It takes away from the excitement of Friday Night Lights because the whole reason that people get so excited is that the games are stress-free leading into the weekend.
“I think Thursday night games will really impact how our football team plays. The energy isn’t going to be as high because not as many people can make it,” junior Ella Hoban said.
Furthermore, our Poms team is also affected by this new change.
“As someone on Poms, it’s going to be hard for me to get as excited because I will be thinking about school the next day. However, I don’t think it will affect my performance because our whole team practices so much, but it’s just gonna be hard to fully focus. It’s just going to take getting used to,” senior captain Alexa Steinberg said.
Even though the Pom’s snake will be just as thrilling and Cheer will do the same stunts, there are going to be less fans, so the overall experience is going to be less enjoyable. This has been an unwritten rule because high school football games have always been on Fridays just like college football is traditionally on Saturdays.
“I know there are going to be parents who aren’t gonna want their kids to go because they have school in the morning and I know that personally my brain isn’t gonna be able to be 100% focused on what’s going on,” Steinberg said.
