On Friday, September 15, 2023, the football team had their first out-of-state game. The Varsity football team of Santaluces played John Curtis Christian High School in New Orleans.
As cheerleaders, we had our own point of view on how our time went. We started the day off by meeting up and having a team breakfast in Coach Ross’ classroom. Once we finished, we made some tiktoks as a team and went outside to practice some of our cheers for the game while waiting for our bus.
Our flight was at 2:35 p.m. so we had some time to walk around the airport and find stuff to eat before boarding the plane. All of us were looking in uniform with our New Orleans cheer shirt, jeans, and spirit-color Crocs. Since New Orleans and Florida have a one-hour time difference, what was a 2-hour flight was really 1 hour, and we arrived in Louisiana at 3:35 p.m. We got picked up from the airport by our bus and headed over to the hotel. All of us were split into 6 groups of 4 for each room. We checked into our rooms and the views were beautiful.
Afterward, we got ready for the big football game in our cheer uniforms! While all of this was happening with the cheerleaders, the football players took a trip to LSU. “LSU was really nice, the facilities were beautiful, and the field was breathtaking. With that being my dream school, it really hit me differently that I was actually there,” said Travis “Tre” Robinson.
We got to the field, and the stadium was way bigger than we expected! The other team had about 50 cheerleaders, a big band, a dance team, and a lot of fans in the stands. In the first quarter, the Patriots took the lead with 21 points. In the second quarter, the Chiefs made 14 points while the Patriots also made 14 more points. During the third quarter, the Chiefs made 7 points and the Patriots made 14. The fourth quarter came around and the Patriots made 6 points thus winning the game with a score of 55-21.
It was a good game, hundreds of people were watching the live back at home. We did a lot of cheers, chants, stunts, and flips. All of us had a good time, and we were proud of the boys for trying. Varsity Football player, Keshawn Barker stated, “The game was really good, we didn’t get the outcome we wanted, but it was a teaching moment and humbling game for us. We had good exposure and had a good experience playing them. We look forward to winning the rest of our games.”
After the game, we got food and headed to the hotel. Once we got to the hotel, we hung out and got ready for the next day ahead of us.
On Saturday, September 16, 2023, we all got ready for a team breakfast. We met downstairs at a certain time to make it onto the shuttle. Once we got off, we started walking around and took many pictures. We decided to all try beignets for breakfast. It was many of our first times ever trying them and they were really good.
After breakfast, we went to the French Quarter. While we were there, we got lots of souvenirs, took pictures, went to the mall, and brought a good vibe to other people around us. All of us had a great time walking around and seeing many new things. “My favorite part was the time we got to spend together, I got to grow closer to some of the girls I never originally talked to and got to build bonds with them. Being able to just go into another team member’s hotel room and chill, was cool. I enjoyed my time there and honestly wish I could go back because I had so much fun,” said Denallie Geneya.
Soon, it was time for us to go back to Florida. We got back to the hotel, checked out, and headed to the airport. We left New Orleans with such a great experience and a great time. I hope we can do this again one day!
