School spirit ran high and black and gold was shining bright as the kickoff of the annual homecoming football game ensued. Students and players were initially optimistic about the outcome of the game against the Clayton Greyhounds. However, as the game went on, the gap in scores made a victory for U. City look bleak.

The game ended with a score of 55-20 and a victory for Clayton. According to Coach Gibson, the loss was partially due to having two other games that week, on Saturday versus Parkway West and Monday against Hazelwood East. Playing three games in eight days is rare in football and was caused by having to make up the first game of the season, which was cancelled because of temperatures over 100 degrees. After losing to Hazelwood East, offensive receiver and defensive back Mitchell Gross believes this negative result impacted the Homecoming loss.

“All of the games so close together might’ve affected it [the Homecoming loss],” said Gross. “People’s mindsets might have been altered, thinking back to the Hazelwood game or thinking ahead; we weren’t fully focused.”

Other players believe the game was such a dramatic loss due to lack of preparation. “We did not have good preparation,” said starting linebacker, Kenneth Wilson. “You couldn’t underestimate them [Clayton]. We’re both good teams and we didn’t know what they were going to come with. We usually watch film to prepare and we didn’t have any film.”

The football team’s current record of 2-6 doesn’t mean the team can’t do well in the post-season.
“The Homecoming game was kind of hard to watch,” said senior Kerstin Morley. “I know we have a good team and talented players so I’m not worried about the rest of the season. It’s my senior year and also a lot of football players’ senior year, so we’re not giving up yet.”