Looking closely, homecoming takes a lot more than a dozen sweaty guys in green and white Edina helmets to pull off one of the biggest nights of the year. It takes both new and returning voices from the choir, pom-poms from the cheerleaders, high kicks from the hornettes, marching from the band, and cheers from the fans to call it a successful night.

The Edina varsity cheer team has rostered a significant number of underclassmen, now that a majority of the team will be graduating this spring. Sophomore Kathryn Wilkening explains, “It’s my first year on cheer, and it’s really fun. It is really a supportive group to be on. Harder than I expected, but overall a really fun activity.” Her favorite part of the night was, “Showing what we have been working on to the whole student section and cheering for our whole football team.” In contrast, senior Meg Goltzman, participating in her fifth and final year of cheer at Edina, expressed her feelings about high school cheer coming to an end, “I’m really sad but also super excited. I love the atmosphere. Cheer has been super fun. I have been doing it for five years, and I love all the girls on my team, and I just love cheer because I find it to be so much fun.” Even with her cheer time coming to an end, Goltzman is looking forward to the rest of the season through having fun with the girls and leaving behind a team with long lasting success.

There are 25 high school girls on the Hornettes Varsity Team, and junior Jasmine Brown has started as a first year in the infamous kickline. When asked how she felt her first homecoming performance went, Brown replied, “I thought it was one of the best times that we performed, and I thought it was really fun, especially with the girls who had their last year and for people who are new, it’s just kind of like a great diving board for our Hornette careers.” Excited about the upcoming season, she looks forward to performing at next year’s homecoming as a Senior. Unlike Brown, Senior Franny Bray, captain of the Varsity Hornettes, is not looking forward to her final year coming to an end. On the topic of it being her last homecoming performance, Bray responded, “It’s kind of sad, but honestly it felt like a great performance. We went out on a good note which I couldn’t ask for anything better. It’s really bittersweet.”

Marching band consists of 350 members, about one-sixth of the entire student body, and plays a crucial role in the homecoming game. Sophomore Samson Aslesen said, “I love it. And really I just love the whole family vibe that you get from marching band which I don’t think you get in any other activities.” Before the game, Aslesen commented, “The parade is super tiring but it is also very rewarding because you know that you just hopped over that hurdle that seemed very distant, but it is really easy once you get used to it, yet difficult when you start.” Similarly, Senior Amanda Mosborg described her three year experience in the marching band, “I love being on marching band. It is a really great way to get involved in Edina High School and meet a ton of people, and it is also really fun to work so hard at something as a team and then see those results as a team.” Like any graduating bandie, there is one thing that sticks out about marching band that Mosborg will be sure to miss, “I am definitely going to miss the camaraderie and just how everyone is so accepting of everyone else, no one is left out, everyone is a part of the party, part of the group,” said Mosborg. The one thing that both the incoming and outgoing bandies have in common was wanting to “nail the charts,” all of the different arrangements that the band stands in to display different visuals to the audience during their performance.

On the Sidelines

Zoe Cheung

Although the football team is not the only component to homecoming, it is the most important. With no team, there is no game, and with no game there is no homecoming. Sophomore Matthew Cavanagh said, “I am looking forward to seeing what our team can become because I think we have so much potential to be really good.” Cavanagh’s love for the game began when he was a kid. He enjoys the physicality, teamwork, and celebration of winning as a team, shown on Friday night’s game as a victory against the Maple Grove Crimson, 21-20. In addition, Senior Parker Rickert played at his first homecoming win during his high school career. Even though winning was clearly his favorite part of the night, Rickert said that he is most looking forward to “being with the boys, and trying to go to the state,” which will be held at the U.S Bank Stadium at the end of the 2016 season. Rickert’s favorite part about homecoming that he will miss the most next year will be playing in front of the 9,000+ cheering fans in the crowd. Both Cavanagh and Rickert were asked if they could change one thing about Friday night’s game, and both of their replies were, “nothing.”