East High fall sports are on a roll this school year. The football, volleyball, soccer, girls golf, and cross country teams are having excellent seasons with the hope of many more wins to come.
The Board of Education (BOE) had a meeting Oct. 5 over whether or not spectators would be allowed back into games. The vote for allowing spectators back into the games passed 6-1. Each athlete is allowed four ticket vouchers per game, which limits the amount of spectators in the stands.
Now that spectators are allowed into games, East High sports teams have an audience full of their very own supporters. All spectators must wear a mask and keep their masks on at all times, as well as social distance themselves from other fans.
The Blue Aces football team currently holds a record of 5-1. The football team holds a better record this year than they have had in the recent years.
The "secret" to the football team’s success this year is that they are more focused.
“We aren’t doing anything different this year honestly, there’s new group of guys we got on the team, they hungry and it’s nothing more they want than that state title,” varsity football player, Caquoy Patterson, jr., said
The football team is not the only sports team that is doing well this season. The soccer team is undefeated at 13-0. Last year the soccer team competed for the state title, falling short in their sub-state match. With their record this season, there is a possibility they will be competing in the state tournament again this year.
“Although we lost lots of important senior players after last year, this year we still have plenty of returning players and other players who have stepped up and played very well,” varsity soccer player, Vijay Reddy, jr., said. “The circumstances for this season are very different, but I think we as a team have done a good job of having good practices, staying positive with each other on the field, and taking it one game at a time.”
The volleyball team is also having a successful season. They are even more successful this year than they were last year.
“Our team is better and because we’re even hungrier we got a chip on our shoulder from last year we want revenge and the best for our team,” varsity volleyball player, Akeir Scales, jr., said.
“Our coach is more disciplined as well as our team.” Scales said. “She holds us accountable for everything and makes us work for what we want while also not sugarcoating anything.”
Another successful sports team this year is the cross country team. There has been a lot of loss in talent due to girls who have decided not to run this year due to COVID-19.
“The team is doing about the same, however we’ve definitely had to work a lot harder this year to make up for a lot of talent lost,” cross country runner, Araziah Mendoza, jr., said. “We made it to state and got third in regional and everyone ran their fastest time.”
The girls golf team has shown an improvement in the team this season. The golf team usually does not have many players, but there were a total of five players this year. However, one team member was forced to quarantine and missed the entire season.
“Normally there’s only 3 girls that play, but this year we had a team,” Zoey Lee, sr., said. “Every girl wanted to play and had a good attitude. We also had a new coach this year which really helped everyone.”
Lee finished the season with some high accolades to her name.
“I got first in city league and so did our team and then I got third in regionals and 13th at state.” Lee said.
As the fall sports are coming to an end, the Blue Aces fall sports teams are ending their seasons with amazing records, and lots of experience moving forward.