PC cheerleaders win state
Parkers Chapel led from start to finish Saturday night and claimed the 1A-2A Game Day Cheer State Championship in Hot Springs. Lavaca finished second.
PC completed the prelims in first place, competed in the No. 1 spot in the finals and won with a score of 91.55. The squad had no deductions through the entire season, including state.
“Just so proud of these kids. We set these goals back when we had tryouts and made some smaller substantial goals that they could check off the list to get to this point. They worked super hard. The main thing was they just believed in themselves that they could do it. That was evident (Saturday),” said PC coach Torri Jacobs.
“We finished out the prelims in first place and then it's a random coach draw for the order of going into the finals. I drew one. Typically, as a coach, sometimes you'd want to be in the middle. I just think that's the way it was supposed to be. They went out there and left it all on the mat, no deductions our entire competition season. They just finished really strong. We are extremely proud to bring this back to our school.”
Did the squad enter the competition expecting to win it?
“Well, I did,” answered Jacobs. “I believed in them from the getgo. I knew the competition in 2A. Lavaca, year after year, they're winning it. They are hard to beat. They have multiple guys, typically five to six males on their squad. They are known to hold that top spot. I knew going into it that's who we had to beat.
“But all week long, I just had that feeling. I knew they had it in them. I knew if they would believe in themselves like I believed in them, they could do it. That's exactly what I asked them to do. And they did it.”
The squad, which practiced at 6 a.m., battled through weeks of quarantines that kept them from practicing for nearly three weeks during the middle of November.
PC's squad consisted of six seniors and eight sophomores. The seniors include Larry Moore, Captain, Stinson Battisto, Co-Captain, Kaitlyn Scott, Co-Captain, Gracie Jones, Hannah Brotherton and Paige Caldwell.
Sophomores are Kaitlyn Brazle, Lexi Killingsworth, Tess Johnson, Abi Forbes, Beaux Riley Cardin, Alexis Green, Kinley Moore and Hope Boykin.