Stand up and cheer, victory is here!
For the blue, gold and white,
We’re gonna win tonight!

The Hanover High cheerleaders are known for their loud, peppy cheers and bright smiles on the sidelines of each football game. The 21 girls on this year’s team have done a tremendous job of enthusing football fans, and despite rain and freezing temperatures, the team is always able to bring an immense amount of positive energy to every game.

Though the team puts forth a spectacular halftime show with optimistic attitudes every Friday night, most fans don’t realize the extent of true effort needed to launch a successful cheerleading season. This year in particular proved to be full of new struggles, for this is the first year with coach Emily Humphrey. Luckily, right off the bat, Coach Emily began to lead the girls in the right direction, assisted by senior captains Jaime Savage, Olivia DelTufo, and Skye Howard. The team spent many hot summer days fundraising for their competition preparation, and spent hours at a time learning strenuous routines and tiring stunt sequences. The opening weeks of the season went smoothly, and successfully laid down a strong basis for the many steps to be taken in the following months leading up to competition season.

However, like all other sports teams, the cheerleaders suffered many setbacks after they got the ball rolling. Freshman flyer Jaclyn Mignosa injured her arm while warming up for the football game at Pembroke High, eliminating her from the remainder of the season. Junior flyer Michelle Leary was also declared exempt due to an existing back issue. With two of the team’s important flyers out for the season, the girls had to rearrange and shuffle the entire routine in a pressing period of time. But much like their attitudes during football games, the team was able to remain upbeat and optimistic and has made heavy progress in re-working their routine to match their goals. It was not an easy feat to accomplish, however, to prevail over such drastic changes. The team showed an extreme dedication throughout the process, stretching practices late into Sunday evenings and even planning early morning practices before school. The girls truly prove that being a cheerleader isn’t as easy as putting on a smile and waving pom poms in the air!

The girls on the team are excited yet apprehensive toward their upcoming competition season. Their first competition is set for November 1, followed by the League Competition on November 8. They are proud of their efforts so far, and can’t wait for the good things to come!