By Larkin Spaw, student
HALE- When it was time to start planning the homecoming event, an idea was thrown out about having an alumni football game due to not having a football team this year, and it got great feedback! It wasn’t a traditional homecoming celebration, but it was something special to be able to watch my dad and my uncles on the field! Our homecoming court was able to have a celebration they needed, and the football players that planned on playing this year got to have some time on the field. We had approximately 60 players returned from the class of 1988 to the present!
When I asked my dad, Jeremy Spaw, class of 1991 how it felt to be back on the field. He said “It was nice to have my family watch me or make a fool of myself! But what I enjoyed the most, was watching everyone reconnect with old friends and seeing all the varsity jackets and jerseys from the past 35 years! I think it was nice to take an unfortunate situation to let the kids have a homecoming football game and celebration. I’m not opposed to having another alumni game, but I hope to have our Eagles back on the field next year!”
Our hometown teacher Andrew Katterman, class of 2006, was another player that came back on the field and he said “It felt great to play football again. It is one of those things that you don’t expect to do again after graduation. My children were very excited to watch me play football. Kiley was overjoyed to be wearing my old jersey. I would definitely play in a future alumni game. In an unfortunate year without High School football, it was great to have some type of football for our students to celebrate Homecoming. It was great to see old friends and our community come together for an event like this.” The alumni game had two games; each game had 2 halves with a 12-minute running clock. The first quarter was the graduating class of 2011 to 2026. They did a half time as usual and that’s when they announced the homecoming court representatives and crowned the king and queen. The second half was the graduating classes of 1988 to 2009.
