‘Football is back’: Huge crowds, raucous fans cheer on their high school teams
They arrive early and cheer late.
Students at high school football games across the Sacramento region have made it the norm to settle into rooting sections in the bleachers each Friday night decked in everything from bright-green leotards to cowboy hats and boots to face paint. Rubbery Crocs footwear? Crocs for everyone!
Students in these gatherings do not sit on their hands. They don’t even sit. They stand. They hold signs. They spray water. They throw up colored powder to form a cloud. They celebrate, they chant, they compete with the rival rooting section with everything from “We can’t hear you!” to the ultimate silencer chant: “Scoreboard!”
For those who appreciate the sounds of a 130-member marching band or the dance team or the cheerleaders, a Friday game is a must-see event. Friday nights are when hours of preparation are put into action, everyone to be seen, to be heard — and not just the football team.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s been two years since fans in the Sacramento area have been able to gather and stomp their feet on the metal bleachers. Schools limited attendance drastically during an abbreviated spring season earlier this year; last year’s fall season was canceled.
The fans have come roaring back, sometimes literally. When a football team does well — or is even just competitive — it sets a positive vibe and culture on campus. And what better way to get everyone involved on campus — an administrator’s dream — than to have a game as the backdrop to a sea of activities.
“Going to a high school football game is the thing to do,” Granite Bay athletic director Tim Healy said recently as he studied his school’s full menu of options before a home game against Jesuit. The marching band was in full force. So were the cheerleaders. The end zone bleachers reserved for students were full, everyone in bright colors, everyone bearing broad smiles.
Football is king
A year ago, the bleachers were empty on Friday nights. There are no such restrictions now, and it’s not just schools ranked in The Bee’s Top 25 that show up in large numbers. It’s become the craze all over.
“Football is back and it’s king,” Rocklin principal Davis Stewart said. “People appreciate this all over. People want to be back out, to have a good time.”
The recent Quarry Bowl between Placer County rivals Rocklin and Whitney drew an overflow of 5,600 fans at Rocklin. That’s not a lot compared to a college or NFL game, but it’s a ton of people at this level, when stadiums do not seat that many people.
“That’s more than the A’s game I just went to,” said Aaron Jackson, the public address voice for the Lincoln Zebras and sports writer for Gold Country Media. “It’s the coolest thing to see these games every Friday with all that’s going on.”
The annual Holy Bowl between Christian Brothers and Jesuit draws more than 10,000 spectators. The rooting sections often add the sound element. On Friday last week, Rocklin hosted rival Del Oro, and that included another full house with all the trappings of a good time: good weather, good views, good teams.
Rocklin’s “The Storm” rooting section had a U.S.A. theme, with American flags, red-white-and-blue shirts, face paint or both. Some fans wore Crocs, others boots. Those who didn’t go home with a hoarse voice weren’t involved nearly enough. Students aren’t the only ones attending games, certainly. They’re just the loudest.
“I think it’s wonderful these big crowds, if not a bit loud, but it’s great to see kids having such a good time, supporting good teams and each other,” said Mary Johnson, a Del Oro fan packed into the bleachers. “You want to watch the game but you can’t help but watch the rooting sections. If I’m a principal, I’d be delighted.”
The principals are delighted.
“You’ve got the band, you’ve got the dance team, you’ve got the cheerleaders, you’ve got the football team — and everyone is involved and we love to see it,” Rocklin’s Stewart said, peering at the scene on Friday. “It’s a great way to spend a Friday night. You can be goofy, silly and be a kid.”
After the Rocklin-Del Oro game, retired Del Oro principal Dan Gayaldo was beaming. He said crowds are bigger now than he can recall. His wife, Jill, always gets into it as a fan. She doubles as the mayor of Loomis and never attends a football game without a football-shaped purse or glittery cowboy boots. She arrives, as the kids like to say, “all blinged out.”
“You have to get into the spirit of things,” Jill Gayaldo said with a laugh.
Big student rooting sections
Most area student rooting sections have leaders and meet regularly with activities directors, athletic directors or others in school leadership. The rooting sections have names and some have social media accounts, including Jesuit’s “Galley Crew,” Oak Ridge’s “O-Zone” to Vista del Lago’s “The Nest.”
Schools in Elk Grove are as into it as those in Auburn, Woodland, Davis or Winters. The Bee’s Cameron Salerno has a weekly poll of the top rooting section on Instagram, voted on by the students.
And one rooting section leader speaks for all of them.
“People have no idea how much we put into this because some think we just put paint on and go to the games to just yell,” said Rocklin senior Kaylah Adams, dressed in a U.S.A. cowboy hat with shirt heavy on red-and-white stripes. “We meet all the time to go over ideas, what sort of T-shirts to get. We’re into it!”
Said fellow senior rooting section leader Ryan Mason, also in a cowboy hat: “This all makes the high school experience even better. We want it to be better than those who went to school before us. We’re having a blast.”
Adams and Mason frown if any of their fellow students cross the line of crowd decency. It happens. To that end, every regional rooting section requires a bit of supervision. School administrators do not hesitate in removing those from rooting sections who violate policy, such as chanting curse words attached to elected government officials.
Or allowing items that can be hurled.
“We had water bottles, but teenagers will throw water bottles, so I put a stop to water bottles,” said Rocklin athletic director Ryan Spears, who works closely with campus activities director John Thompson to plan. “We want to have a good time within reason.”
It is common practice for rooting sections to borrow from others. Del Oro has for years been a standard bearer in rooting excellence.
“We watched Del Oro over the years and thought, ‘We gotta be as good as them with their tradition,’” Spears said. “We borrow ideas, steal ideas, but it goes both ways. We got smoke machines and all of a sudden, Del Oro’s got a smoke machine, and it’s all fun.”
A smoke machine? Why, yes, but more accurately, a Fog Fury Jett Pro, with blinking color lights that creates “bursts of fog up to 40 feet.” The cost is $500 per unit.
“We have two,” Spears said, explaining that “every Friday game is an event.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2021 at 5:00 AM.