Preparing for Football Friday Night At Licking Valley High

Picture: Licking Valley Seniors Jarrod Hufford, Blade Williams, and Joey Chapman lead the Panthers onto the field.

Hanover- Its Football season here at Licking Valley High School and the highly anticipated 2018 season is finally upon us. As I’m sure most of you know, each Friday fans pour into to Randy Baughman Stadium from all over the district to watch the Panthers. But exactly how much has to be done to prepare for the games? This article will dive into the behind the scenes of LV football and all the people that make it happen.

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First let's talk about the main event: As a football player, I get the firsthand experience of all the preparation the football team does all week. After a full week of practice, Friday morning begins at 6:30 with a team breakfast. Most of the team is there, including the cheerleaders and the team moms, who make the breakfast. After we are finished, we head to school. At school, we are encouraged to hydrate all day. Whenever we have free time during school, we are encouraged by our coaches to watch film on our opponent. Film is great for reading defenses and recognizing our opponents plays. After school we have a couple hours before we have to be at the field. Receivers report to the field at 5 o’clock for a meeting. After the meeting we go onto the field and throw for almost a half hour. The entire team has to be dressed and ready by 6:15. At 6:15 the “kicking unit” takes the field. After ten minutes of kicking, the rest of the team comes out and we begin to warm up. After a 20 minute warm up, we head back inside and listen to Coach Baughman’s pregame speech. Finally, we all huddle together for one last cheer before we take the field.

A key component to any Friday night football game is the cheerleaders. The cheerleaders do a lot of preparation leading up to the game. When I asked LV cheerleader Kendall Miller what they do before the games, this was her response.

Q: What do the cheerleaders do to prepare for Friday Night?

A: Well, Thursdays before the game we paint the run-through. On Fridays, we decorate the field to match the student section theme and we try to make sure that everything is ready. Also, we give the players snacks Friday morning to get them ready for the game. We usually get ready together before the game, then go up together to make sure everything looks good.

Another vital part to the Friday night atmosphere is the LV student section (A.K.A The Panther Pit) . To get behind the scenes of what the student section does to get prepared, I asked LV senior and flagrunner, Caleb Thomas.

Q: What do you, as a student section leader, do to get ready for the game?

A: Well, I like to listen to music before the games, just to get me in an energetic mood. I usually get my stuff for the theme before the game. I usually get to the game 20 minutes early. Once the game starts, I get in that football mood where you want to scream and get everybody else pumped up around you. Then once they are all pumped up , it’s over from there. We are the loudest and we will be the whole game.

These people are just a small part of everything that happens Friday night. The greatest thing about Licking Valley football is that the whole community makes it happen.