BY CHARLIE ZACK

As an opposing player walks into enemy territory, they don’t expect to be greeted cordially, but the Mariemont student section has upped the game this year with a crowd riddled with signs picturing blown up heads of anyone from Stevie Wonder to other player’s girlfriends.

The opinion of the student section is split almost 50/50.

President of Spirit Club, Mikey Lockhart, said in a text interview, “I think the student section’s been great when a lot of people come. People are loud and try to get under the other team’s skin which I think is great.”

The two points of emphasis from the student section have been the signs and the chants.

Signs have showcased everything from encouragement for favorite players, to inside jokes between schools, and other types of tomfoolery with the intent of getting other players to lose focus.

And it has worked. The girl’s team only lost one game–winning all at home–while the boys won seven out of eleven games at home.

Whether this is because of the teams or the crowd or both, many players have tweeted their gratefulness to the student section. Junior Carson Fields tweeted after the home game against rival Madeira “Student section, you’re amazing.” The girls won that game 53-43.

Sometimes the antics of the student section are taken too far. One instance was when a sign reading “3-1 isn’t your only record” including a drawing of prison bars directed at an opposing player with a criminal record. The athletic director of the opposing school came over and removed the sign from the student section, and after the game, the player quit.

Others have a different opinion on this year’s student section.

“How many home football games were there, that by halftime, the student section was empty?” says Athletic Director Tom Nerl.

Nerl believes that attendance has been down compared to other years.  He is currently working on ways to fix the attendance drop.

“Some games we get a great, big, loud student section and others no one shows up,” says Nerl.

The student section is also known for being disrespectful to other teams cheerleaders. “When the other team comes over to do their Welcome Cheer, the student section always yells at them and boos them,” says senior cheerleader Abby Takas.

There have been many instances of when the student section has taken it too far.  Someone in the student section called another cheerleader a “water buffalo.”  Another was when senior Ty Bucher was kicked out of a girls game for yelling at a referee.

“After something like that happens, I have to yell at the kids, everyone takes it as ‘Oh now I can’t cheer’ and then the whole section is quiet for the rest of the game,” says Nerl.

Nerl is working with juniors he has picked to run Spirit Club next year. He is also getting ready to launch an app for Mariemont students.  “We’re going to totally revamp Spirit Club. There will be lots of changes coming next year,” says Nerl.

“It’s going to be an app revolving around the student section, trying to get a lot of people to get excited and come out to games,” says Nerl. He is creating a point system in which students will receive a certain amount of points for doing different things around the sports teams. “It’ll be as simple as five points for coming to a game, five for dressing with the theme, two or three for posting a picture at the game or tweeting about it,” says Nerl.

This point system is going to be a ladder rewards system where the rewards will include things like free button’s or foam finger’s to a free tee shirt or gift card. Nerl hopes to get sponsors involved to the point where students are receiving points for going to certain businesses.

“I think it’ll help the whole school by bringing all the sports teams together and making it feel like more of a family,” says Nerl.