After a long offseason courtesy of the pandemic, the student section has made its comeback and boy, have they been missed. Flooding the crowds, Ridge Army is making sure our sports teams know who has home field advantage. 

Filling the middle of the stands, ranges of students sit in the bleachers. Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors all unite within the acclaimed section. Sitting in such a spot is a promise to scream for the home team, disrupt the visitors, and have a good time with fellow classmates. 

The sea of spirit wear surges through the students sitting here. As of the first two home games, USA colors and a western theme had engulfed the fans. All of the students have now gotten to have a Friday night lights experience after Covid cancellations, linked to the community of Mountain Lions surrounding them in the same attire for the occasion. This is one of the most looked forward to parts of the games because fans can take pictures looking like their friends, while the apparel simultaneously brings the section together.

A privilege here at Mountain Ridge is that our student section is effectively headed by Peter Evans, who has helped produce some of the most prominent high school memories kept by students. 

Evans explains that his favorite part of running the section is, “Coming up with the game themes with the students.”

Ridge Army is the club Evans oversees at all games Ridge has hosted for the past four years. The Army is the organizer of the events in the stands, creates cheers, decides the theme for the games and tells the school to come out to all types of sporting events on our campus.

“Ridge Army is responsible for supporting Mountain Ridge sports and promoting school spirit,” Evans said in response to the club’s duties on game days.

The Army had to take a year hiatus, but the student section has been a force to be reckoned with over the past years. Reflecting on the impact the student section has had on the home games, Ridge Army knows it has been missed.

In remembrance of the times before games could be postponed as a result of a pandemic, Evans enjoyed this club’s impact and savors its unique impact on the school.

“Watching how the student section reacts to a big win [is my favorite part]. The win against Centennial was huge and there was a game two years ago that we won on a last second score that was crazy,” Evans remembered as some of his favorite memories, being the club’s sponsor prior to Covid and now that it has revamped.

With fans back, Ridge’s fall sports of football, girls volleyball, golf, cross country, swim, spiritline, and badminton are all prospering in response to the backing of their classmates. 

“I think the athletes really love having fans back in the stands. It pushes them to play a little bit harder when they hear their classmates cheering them on,” Evans says he has noticed with the fans’ return. 

The fans’ return was felt almost immediately as Mountain Ridge recorded a huge upset win over Centennial, defeating them 39-34 thanks to a 4th quarter comeback. 

This had been a missed experience for athletes competing without the support of their classmates. The cheering the students are able to muster in the crunch time of games can help our Lions down on the field set the standard of dominance when it matters most.

“I think the student section is better than what it has been in the past. The student section for the Centennial game was excellent. They were loud and really into the game,” Evans states he saw at the big game where the student section was an electric jolt to the players.

So Ridge, with the stands now open, it would be criminal to deprive yourself of such an infamous high school experience, now that we know that things you once considered a given can be taken away instantly. Go out to the games, know what the theme is, and get ready to cheer your heart out for our home team because without you in the stands, some winnable games may not be plausible. 

The noise that can fuel our teams is reinvigorated and back, better than ever, welcoming returning Seniors and Juniors to the section and inviting the Sophomores and Freshmen to their first chance to sing the Fight Song after a touchdown and get dressed up for spirit wear, all of which are staples in the high school experience.