The Big Southwest V. West Game

By: Ella Kemp

        The big game. Everyone from both schools are always trying to get prepared for this game. After all, West isn’t the school to mess with. Southwest neither.

        Southwest and West middle schools have been rivals since the dawn of time. We compete for the top mark in the town, to be called the best. The only way to resolve our constant competition, is by sporting competitions.

        This time, West was weaker to the rising competition. By the end of the first quarter, we were already down by five points, at 0-5. Every time West scored, the crowd burst into encouraging rhythmic cheers and cheerleaders drummed their poms-poms together. By half-time, West was ten points down at 7-17. Posters with encouraging things such as, “GO WEST,” and “Go Warhawks!” were found throughout the crowd.

        At the end of the first game, the score was 21-34 Bulldogs. Everyone was slightly less determined in the West crowd, but nobody had given up. Crowds of people, each of them with some concession in their hand, started pouring through the doors. Everyone knew today was intense, but with West down by one, it was even more serious. People on the Southwest bench were dressed up in arbitrary outfits. A sea of sombreros and leis, and occasionally a few pairs of oversized sunglasses in many neon and metallic colors.

        The West crowd was very intense and still waiting anxiously for any baskets being shot by West players. Finally, the score for the second game was official as the buzzer went off: 17-25.

        The crowd erupted into applause at the game’s end. Bows were unfastened from the cheerleaders’ hair, and the hot dog and popcorn smells from the concession stand faded away. Suddenly, the crowds were dispersing, leaving behind tons of litter, or long-forgotten wrappers. The basketball team came out of their meeting place, and what was left of the crowd ran to them while applauding. Sure, the West basketball team lost, but the crowd made up what we lost by. We won in support and cheers, and after the day is gone, that is what it’s all about.