At the beginning of the season the Vikings were 3-0; there was no stopping them! At the first home game of the season there was a lot of commotion which pushed H-F to put a big restriction on the fan section of the games. After this incident, the Vikings dropped to 3-1.

In the past years: students, family and friends were able to freely come to the games as they pleased. However, the first new plan that H-F incorporated to ensure fan safety was a “lottery” to get into the games which gave them the ability to monitor the amount of students that would be attending the games. 

The lottery resulted in a bad outcome when the 2021 homecoming football game had the smallest fan section H-F has probably ever seen.

After suffering during the pandemic and not having any fans, the players expected to come back to school and have the games go back to normal.

“Playing with limited fans was tough on us players, coming out of a game with a sold out crowd compared to a game with mostly parents,” varsity football player Jaedyn Price said.  “We really only had the support from our teammates on the sideline but in rough times we need a little more support from a larger crowd, that’s what keeps the game intense.” 

Not only did this affect the players, but also the H-F cheerleaders. The goal of a cheerleader is to get the crowd involved in the game and cheer on the team. 

Varsity cheerleader Lyric Robinson expresses how it was to cheer with such a small fan section. “It was like we were cheering to ourselves because we had nobody to engage with or actually cheer to,” Robinson said. 

After seeing the failure of the fan lottery,  H-F is now allowing students and parents to attend the games as long as they sign up on 8to18. The only problem with this is that players have friends outside of H-F who still can not attend games. 

“I don’t agree with the fact that we can’t have “outsiders” at games, because we have many other people that would love to see us play, especially us seniors with this being our last couple of games playing in this stadium. It’s just not fair to us,” Price said.

The restrictions that H-F put on fans being able to attend games have impacted more than just the players. It affected students, parents, other family members and friends. 

With the playoffs coming up, the players are excited and are looking forward to looking over and seeing the stands packed with their friends and family cheering them on.

“Yes, I am excited! When us players are out on the field with no crowd, it doesn’t feel like a game anymore. It’s just an extended day of practice with another team present.” Varsity football player Khadari Kurns said. 

As playoffs begin, the amount of fans attending games are expected to pick up and help the Vikings make it far in their season. Having a support system and a full crowd is what helps the team play at their fullest potential.