A league of their own

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Created on Tuesday, 21 August 2012 15:44

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Granite Hills High School Football 2013(photo by: Julia Navarrete/August 21, 2012)

Opinion

By Sierra Lopez

The excitement of a new school year and new sports season is always amped by the constant rivalry between Granite Hills High School and the other two Porterville schools: Porterville High School and Monache High School.

Last school year, the Porterville Unified School District Board of Trustees decided that Granite Hills did not have a large enough student population to successfully compete in the East Yosemite League. So Granite Hills was moved to the East Sequoia League, which features schools with smaller student populations.

When Toni Lopez, a varsity cheerleader, was asked about how she felt about the league change, she stated, “I think it’s good that we changed divisions because we have a better chance of winning, but it sucks that we don’t get to play our crosstown rivals because those were always the most fun games to cheer at.”

The benefits of this move in leagues are that Granite Hills gets to play teams that are more like Granite Hills in student population. Granite Hills’ football team is obviously small and Friday’s scrimmage proved so when most of our boys were on the field and Monache, who is in EYL, had enough players to play a whole other game.

“I’m happy about it because we finally play schools our size and have a fair opportunity,” says Isaiah Cortez, a varsity football player.

A lot of concerns are coming up because students believe that we won’t be playing our crosstown rivals but, we will! No it doesn’t count for a league game and no the football team won’t be playing them but there are a lot of other sports that will still play Monache and Porterville high schools. The excitement is still there!

Madison Rice, a varsity cheerleader, stated, “I think they will do better in this league and the new league also means new football teams we get to play so those are new chances that our football players get to prove themselves to Porterville that they are a hard working dedicated football team.”

Contrary to previous beliefs, the league change does not only affect the football team. All Granite Hills sports teams are experiencing this change and all have to deal with the new competition.

“I feel that it will give us a chance to [win] league but it will also be challenging because it is the best of best schools,” commented varsity softball player, Ashlee Halopoff.

The league change is a good thing that Granite Hills needs to embrace! Of course it will be a change and take some getting used to since we are playing new teams, but this gives us a better chance for success all around! Every sport should benefit from this!

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Editor: Evan Hackett

Posted by: Luis Felix

Final Editor: Madison Rice