Senior Night: Hosting the last home game with Trojan pride

On Friday, Nov. 4th, senior football players and cheerleaders participated in their last home game of their high school career.

Varsity football lead a victory of 48-34. This put the team at 5-5 for the season. The win against Bassett was one to keep students, staff, and fans on the edge of their seats.

Six senior cheerleaders also showed their spirit one last time for THS football games. However, the girls still have basketball season to look forward to, except forLindsay Marshall. She has decided to turn her uniform in for good at the close of the fall season.

The night brought out various emotions for the girls and coach Olivia Mccraw. Walking down the field with parent(s), hearing names called, and the moment of surrealism is going to be remembered by the seniors long past the days leading up to graduation.

McCraw is a first year coach for the cheerleaders, but this doesn’t mean the night wasn’t a sad one for her also.

When giving advice to upcoming cheerleaders, senior Raigan Shackelford said, “Enjoy it, time goes by really fast!”

The varsity football team will be losing an overwhelming amount of 19 players next year.

With a little less than half of the team leaving, head coach David Potts said, “It’s mixed emotions. You’re happy for them to be able to move on to the next phase of their life, but you’re sad to see them go.”

Senior Donica Hunt admitted that he cried walking down the field and after the game. Luckily, the players were so occupied focusing on the win that they didn’t have as much time to reflect on the bittersweet memories over the years.

Other seniors like Sage McBride were able to stand on the sidelines with their siblings. In McBride’s case, he got to stand with his little brother, Peyton McBride, who is a junior varsity football player.

“Playing for Tunstall has been full of ups and downs. Last year we had our really bad season and this year we came back and did really well,” said Sage.

Senior band members played the Trojan “Fight Song” for the last time during senior night. Starting marching band for some as early as seventh grade, it was an emotional night for seniors to let go of their vanguard uniforms.

“It’s interesting, because usually we don’t put much importance behind football games, but this being the last one, it was a very different experience,” said Daniel Shogan.

The varsity team, although not at home, can be found on Nov. 11 at Brookville High School. They will be playing against the Brookville Bees in the playoffs.