Varsity cheerleading coach Kari Patchak decided to prevent the cheerleaders from cheering at the varsity football playoff game on Nov. 9, since the team is competing in the Cumberland Valley Cheer Classic on Nov. 10.

Patchak said that “it’s just because we have a competition tomorrow.”

“We are not declining to cheer. Half the cheerleading team is staying at a hotel overnight to compete in the morning. We worked all season to compete in our competitions, and that’s our main priority. Yes, we’d like to cheer at the game, but we’ve had this scheduled since May of last year,” junior Madi Day said. “If we didn’t have the competition, we would be cheering.”

“I’m very upset that we are not cheering at the game. However, our cheer coach thought it would be better to not cheer at the game and be ready for the competition than cheer at the game and not be prepared,” junior Caitlin Johnson said.

This is the first varsity football playoff game at home in JC history.

“I like having cheerleaders. It gets the football players and the crowd motivated. I’m upset that the cheerleaders aren’t cheering. We need their support, and this is a playoff game,” sophomore Allen Bryant said.

“We’re going to have to rely on the student section a lot more to get themselves rowdy,” senior Walter Roche said.

Although the cheerleaders are not cheering at the game, they are still required to attend the game to support the football team.

Sydney Setree is a Managing Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.