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Lakeview girls will have plenty of support in regional
LHS seniors McAllister, Sember lead spirited fan group to regional
By CHARLES GROVE
While the Lakeview girls basketball team will be pouring the cliched “blood, sweat and tears” into tonight’s regional semifinal game against Elyria Catholic, their peers will be sacrificing their vocal chords for the cause.
The Lakeview student section was in top form last Thursday night in the Bulldogs’ district final win over Howland. Established leaders up front were directing cheers and movements like a general with his army.
Two Lakeview seniors, Molly McAllister and Addy Sember, have been in charge of the student section all year long and said the support that came out for districts was as large as it has been all year.
“That game was huge, McAllister said. “With all the support that came out, it was incredible — especially for the game being about 30 minutes away from home, too. The size definitely rivaled some of the student sections we get for football games.”
McAllister was awarded the student section leadership position from last year’s leader and decided to expand upon her duties. Instead of just going out for football games, she dreamt of student sections like last Thursday’s at all sports.
“We always have a senior leader for sports and usually it’s just for football games,” McAllister said. “But this year we decided we wanted to try to make our student sections as huge as we could for every sport because every team truly deserves it.”
McAllister employed Sember as her co-leader and tonight’s Division II regional semifinal against Elyria Catholic in Barberton could be the culmination of the time and effort the two have put it as an even larger group of students are expected to attend.
“We really haven’t had any huge crowds this year for girls basketball, but we did in the district championship,” McAllister said. “[Tonight’s game] is about an hour away but everyone’s really excited around the school for it.”
While the themes of the student section may change game by game, the overall goal of the loud group is family, according to McAllister.
“We just like to make our school like one big family,” McAllister said. “Seeing all the heart and passion the girls have for the game literally fuels the student section. It makes us want to do our job that much more to help bring the school together.
“High school is a rough time for everyone with everyone trying to fit in and find themselves so I think being a part of the student section, letting go and just cheering with everyone else, you just kind of forget about everything and you just go and have fun.”
The program considered the duo so much like family, that both girls got the cut down the nets with the team and coaches after Lakeview’s district championship win.
“They let us do that which was super nice,” McAllister said. “It made it more of a family thing and kind of showed that everyone contributed to the win. It really shows how much we’re connected and how we’re family.”
“I’m planning on making my piece of the net into an ankle bracelet and just wearing it all the time,” Sember said.
While dueling student sections often bark back at each other during the course of a game, McAllister stressed her vision is to have a more “pro-Lakeview” policy, rather than just yelling across the court at the other school.
“We really try to keep our student section positive,” McAllister said. “We try to be respectful to the rival schools and just do pro-our-team cheers. Sometimes we get a little rowdy but we try to be more pro-Lakeview than disrespectful towards other schools.”
The group planned a blackout theme for tonight’s game since the Bulldogs are wearing their black jerseys against Elyria Catholic. Both girls were unsure Monday just how many are planning on coming to the game, but two spirit buses full of students isn’t out of the realm of possibility, and that doesn’t even include those planning on driving themselves.
Despite the numbers, the girls will be there with their peers and their two section mascots, a pinata named Spritz and a squash named Earl.
“The squash I brought to the district semifinal game as a joke because our theme was ‘Freak Show.’ ” Sember said. “I held it up when we did spirit fingers for free throws and since we got the win I figured why not keep bringing it? Everyone asks why I brought it and the only answer I have is that I’m really not sure. The idea of it being completely irrelevant makes it the most relevant factor in the student section.”
Tip-off for Lakeview’s regional semifinal contest against Elyria Catholic is set for 8 p.m. at Barberton High School with the winner advancing to the regional final on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the same location.