“It gets me more into the game and something to look forward to since I’m not a huge fan of basketball. It makes each game a more memorable memory.” Taylor Rahe, 12 said.

Sheridan Wilt who is a participant encourages people to try it.

“To people who don’t participate, I know you’re probably thinking, oh, people would think that’s weird, but if everyone else is doing it, it’s more fun!  Just try it once or twice and you’ll like it!” Wilt 10, says.

You’re probably wondering how they come up with student section themes. Victoria Harsahw, 12, and Justine Powls 12, brainstorm ideas for the student section themes. “We try to think of what holiday or special event we can link it to. Like last Friday was Friday the13th so we decided to wear creepy masks” Harshaw said.

“A lot of players and other students have noticed our “lacking” student section.  The student sections boost the teams morality and energy.

“There are some games when the visiting team out numbers our student section which is kind of sad,” Kyrstie Miller, 10 said.

Even though few students participate, players still appreciate the support. “I appreciate the themes, and the dressing up. It would be a lot better if more people participated and more people showed up though,” Ethan Holaday, 10, said.

Once the seniors are gone, Powls thinks that the themes will end. But she hopes the underclassmen will continue to do them.

“Spirit Camp is a fundraiser for the Spirit Squad, and it helps buy many supplies for use,” Karen Beightel, Spirit Squad sponsor, said. The squad usually makes around $600 for the account.

Children from Colorado and Central Elementary School came to the high school Saturday morning for practice. There will also be another practice today after school.

“I like spending my whole day with the children when teaching them,” Jordan Barber, 11, said.

The cheerleaders will be performing “Stomp and Scream” for the grades K-2 and the grades 3-5 will be cheering “Boom Boom.”  For the dance portion the grades 3-5 are dancing to “Rockin’ Robin” and grades K-2 will be dancing to “Yellow Submarine.”

Their performance is at the game on Tuesday, Jan. 31.  Grades K-2 will be performing between the girls and boys varsity game and 3-5 will be performing during halftime of the boys varsity game.

“The energy that the little girls put in it, it’s not something that they do all the time,” said Shannon Maxwell, 12.

“I enjoy getting to watch the little kids look up to all of us and just have fun, and remembering how we felt”, Hanah Suarez, Junior said.

The Invitational is named Gerald Sadwoski because the was one of the legendary coaches when Holton had the most success. “The help of my teammates is what encourages me to keep going,” said, Justin Twombly, 12. The wrestling team here at Holton High School is just like a family. They do activities together and they also care and help each other out when another is in need.

Andrew Rieschick, 10, tells how he feels about the tournament when he says, “Invitational is a great preparation for regionals.” People wonder why wrestlers put themselves through all the working out, getting in shape, and starving just to make weight on time, it’s because they’re determined to get their arm raised at the end of every match and having the crowd cheer for them.

The end of the big weekend full of wrestling had the results of Holton getting 4^th place overall. Jonah Lutz, 10 got first place in the 106-weight class, which was what got the team into 4^th place!

-       Kansas State fell to the Razorbacks of Arkansas… The night of the game, the Holton boys basketball team beat Perry- Lecompton and also beat the odds and didn’t find out the score of the game

-       It wasn’t till later that night that Trent messed up the DVR and we saw the final score before we even saw the game…. Thaaaaankkss Treeennntttt.

-       Kansas Jayhawks are playing well, Thomas Robinson is definitely an all American candidate in my book.

-       Kansas State Basketball is also rolling, Taking down Mizzou and almost knocking off the top ranked Baylor Bears. Hopefully Frank can get the guys rolling after another notorious bad start in conference play.

-       Shout out to Jon Holliday for being recognized as Regional Coach of the Year.

-       Shout out to my favorite math teacher, and Head football coach, Mr. Barta for getting inducted into the Shrine Bowl Hall of Fame.

-       Not going to lie, I think all of Holton High School was pulling for the Broncos in the playoffs. Broncos winning, equals less Middlemist which leads to easier PE classes.

-       Unfortunately Tebow Time was all spent on the Steelers.  Timmy Tebow is going to have to work on using it sparingly in the offseason in order to be successful next year.

-       The Rangers spent about as much money on Yu Darvish as JY spends driving to Topeka every weekend.

-       Shout out to Tyler Burdiek taking on the new Sabetha basketball floor. 7 stitches… I think the ground won that one.

-       Ravens over Pats

-       49ers over New York football Giants

-       Superbowl Sunday is going to have to change it’s title to Brodown Throwdown, Harbaugh V Harbaugh.

-       Boycott ESPN due to the fact that they supported the SOPA bill being proposed in congress.

-       Follow the fake Zach Porter on Twitter, it’s just Z bein Z

The boys began the season with a disappointing loss to Wamego in their home opener, but then went on to win 4 straight.  Their next tough test was at home against a solid Nemaha Valley team, where they played arguably their best game of the season, winning 42-36. At the end of the first semester they had a record of 7-3 finishing with a comfortable win over Sante Fe Trail at home.

But their coach still sees plenty of opportunity for improvement for the remaining half of the season.

“I think we still need to improve our ability to work the ball in to the post and make that a bigger part of our game. We have come a long way on our rebounding ability but still need to improve on that a bit as well.” said Coach Hundley.

The boys start up their games at January 31^st against Hiawatha. Then follow this game up with games against Royal Valley and Nemaha Valley.

When asked about what he expects for the rest the season Coach Hundley replied “ I expect the boys to continue to work hard each day and for improvement to continue to be the number one goal. If we do that, I feel we have a chance to beat any team we will face in the remainder of the season.”

Out of roughly 120 college teams, 70 are required to play in the 35 bowl games. That is well over half and is getting ridiculous. Why don’t we just put every team in a bowl game?

It used to be an honor for a team to get to play in a bowl game. Now it is just no big deal for some of them. Some schools have appeared in over 55 bowl games.

There used to be four major bowl games: the Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and Rose Bowl. Now there are names like the Gator Bowl, Holiday Bowl, and Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

The schools could gain a lot of money for playing in a bowl game. The most recent payout for the Rose Bowl is $18 million, most recent for the Potato Bowl? $750,000, which isn’t even close to $18 million.

The school is obligated to sell their share of the tickets to the game. They have to sell 17,500 or pay for the rest of them. That can cost the schools big money.

I think its time for the companies to go together to sponsor a bowl instead of having their own. How many people really watch all 35 games anyways?

Coach Watkins believed that if they worked hard enough, they would be right on their way to Salina, and that’s exactly what happened.

“I think the season is going well. We have positive attitudes that are stretching throughout all levels of play. And we’re also having a lot of fun,” Coach Theresa Watkins said.

Holton, seeded 3^rd in tournament first faced Rose Hill, the 6^th seed in the bracket with a record of 34-6. After, they played the 7^th seed, Towanda-Circle who has a record of 31-11. Last on Friday night, the girls faced McPherson, the 2^nd seed, with a record of 40-2.

“We saw Circle at the Rossville tournament, but we haven’t seen Rose Hill and McPherson play. McPherson has a two seed but record doesn’t really mean anything, because anyone is beatable,” Tanking said.

Coach seems very focused on being a team. She feels that if they stay close as a volleyball family they will definitely succeed. Working together and communicating is some very important tools she loves to see happen.

“If we continue to improve on our communication skills, and support each other as a volleyball family, we will have achieved our goals for this year,” Watkins said.

-       The World Series is 5 games in and the Texas Rangers lead the St. Louis Cardinals 3 games to 2. Josh Hamilton is looking to lead his team to a ring after coming up short last year.

-       Bill Snyder has led his team to a 7-0 start for the first time since 2000. The Wildcats are looking to upset a vulnerable Oklahoma team, that is coming off an unexpected loss in Lubbock to Texas Tech.

-       I would also like to point out that thanks to OU losing, College Gameday is now not going to be coming to the goat pasture behind Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Saturday. Why must Oklahoma always ruin it for everyone.

-       KU’s football program is in a deep, deep, deep rebuilding process, and if anything I would suggest they start with rebuilding their defense. In the last seven games, the Jayhawks have allowed over 50 points a contest.

-       The AD at Kansas has recently spoken out about the Jayhawk’s performances in recent contests, Sheahon Zenger says that those losses are unacceptable, if I was Gill that’s definitely my clue that says I need to start looking for another job.

-       I Want to give a shout out to my favorite Weights teacher Mr. Middlemist, and his 4W weights class. We definitely do it up big and are the reason for Middlemist’s “good mood” all the time.

-       Holton Football is 7-1. Nuff said

-       Volleyball is 39-3 and going to state Nuff said again.

-       Cross Country is sending two runners, (Senior, Rachelle Harman and Junior, Connor Strader) to state. Nuff said again again

“It was one of the most exciting moments of my life. I’m glad that our team has gotten this far and I wouldn’t want to experience this without the people that I’m with,” Victoria Harshaw, Senior said.

The game will be held in Salina on the 28^th of October. If the girls win on Friday night then they will move on to play for first place on the 29^th.

“I’m really excited to go and see the girls this weekend. I was so proud that they made it as far as they did,” said Rachel Bryant, sophomore.

After Friday nights football game the girls knew they had to step up their game in order to defeat Hayden. Even with the rough loss, the football boys and coaches still came and supported the volleyball team. With all the support from the fans the girls pulled it off and won against Hayden.

“Watching the girls come together as a team and play as good as they did really made me proud of them. I’m glad to call them my volleyball family,” Mikayla Booth, sophomore said.

The girls really appreciate the support. Good luck Lady Cats!

Kyrstie had golfed an 18-hole course only once before, but took it on full force. She tied with Hayden’s Brook Larue with a score of 82. They both went into playoff’s to decide who would be the 4a state champion. Although Kyrstie fell short, she has great accomplishments to be proud of.

The Holton Girl’s Golf team didn’t exist until this year. With the help of a few girl’s, Kyrstie brought toward the idea to the board of having a girl’s golf team. Kyrstie not only placed 2^nd in 4a state, she also is the first girl in Holton High School’s history to ever place at a state tournament.