Underneath “Friday Night Lights,” senior football players and cheerleaders celebrated a 44-13 victory over Dover High School on their senior night, Friday, November 6.

  With local headlines reading “New Era For the Warriors,” the team was enjoying a better season than it had seen in years. Coming up to the game, the team had a record of 4-5, having won games against Kennard-Dale, Eastern, Gettysburg, and York Catholic. The team was playing better than ever, morale ever-improving throughout the season.

The senior night game against Dover was important for the team for a variety of reasons. If the team won, it would be in third place in the division with a record of 5-5, which hadn’t been done in quite a few seasons, and of course, the game was the last home-field game for many seniors.

  Senior Kevin Clapp, who plays both fullback and linebacker positions, looked forward to the first play of his senior night.

  “I mean I think we surprised a lot of people…,” said Clapp. “I think we set a positive precedent for teams in the future.”

  Although the football team doesn’t have a senior night tradition, the game is still seniors’ last time on the football field, which is symbolic for a lot of players.

  Cheer coach Jessica Beste emphasized that her cheerleaders work just as hard as other varsity athletes, and for her, senior night means watching them one last time in uniform.

  “Watching the kids get so emotional [is nostalgic] because I feel like it was just me yesterday, so I always tell them if I could go back and redo something, senior night would be it,” said Beste.

     As a gift to her team on senior night, Beste makes football jerseys with each girl’s last name and season’s year on the back, which has become an important rite of passage to cheerleaders she has coached for years.

Senior cheerleader and team captain Nia Bennett looked forward to the culmination of her season and her parents walking her down the field, her mother wearing an outfit she helped pick out.

  “[My season has] been interesting. It’s been a lot of ups and downs, but I feel like this has been one of the most triumphant seasons because we’ve come so far from our skill level [at the beginning of the season],” said Bennett.

  The game, which began after seniors were walked across the field by family members, started quietly, and there was no score with around five minutes left in the first quarter. However, the Warriors quickly rallied with a touchdown followed by an interception by senior quarterback Josh Stoneberg, which led to yet another touchdown by senior Kevin Clapp. These two plays were arguably the best of the game, giving Warriors momentum for the next three-quarters. The quarter ended with a third touchdown by senior Dorian Faster, so the Warriors led the game 20-0.

  The second quarter included a Warrior touchdown with little more than a minute remaining and a Dover touchdown with a failed extra point attempt. The Warriors led 28-6 at the end of the half.

  The second half opened with a Warrior safety and two touchdowns, the second touchdown made by senior Myles Moultrie bringing the score to 44-6 in favor of the Warriors. The fourth quarter was scoreless for the Warriors, but the Dover Eagles scored a single touchdown to make the final score 44-13, giving the senior Warriors a victory to remember.

 For future Warrior football players, senior Kevin Clapp has a parting thought.

  “It’s important to play your hardest for kids who won’t be playing anymore, like the seniors,” said Clapp. “Every game is important, but I guess senior night is a little more important.”