The cheering didn’t stop for the Turners Falls High School cheerleading team when the football team suspended its program this season.
The members of the squad continued to cheer, accompanying the Turners Falls players in support of the Mohawk Trail cooperative.
Still cheering meant undergoing significant change and hurdles, however.
Some of those changes included altering the cheers, while home games turned into “road games” in Buckland in front of strangers. The team also lost its transportation.
The squad certainly found a silver-lining however, considering the alternative would have meant a much quieter fall season.
“It was a lot of relief,” senior captain Emily Sisson said. “We were actually cheering for a football team.”
The squad still wears its Turners Falls gear at Pollard Field in Buckland, cheering and performing choreographed routines for the Warriors’ faithful.
Mohawk Trail uniforms were a possibility, but sizing issues scrapped the idea.
“It’s definitely a little strange,” Sisson said. “The fans have been very good. The first game was a little awkward because it was a new thing for them. The fans have been engaging with us. They will clap whenever we do a cheer.”
As the season progressed, the engagement with fans increased along with post-game interactions.
“They’ve been very supportive,” Sisson said. “People come up to us after games and tell us, ‘Hey good job’ and ‘We are so glad you are here,’ saying stuff like that.”
Sarah Underwood is in her fifth year coaching cheerleading, and is a 2010 graduate of Turners Falls High School.
Like any other Turners Falls resident, the news about the football program left Underwood disappointed.
“It was a bummer just because of all of the traditions,” Underwood said.
The Turners Falls Thanksgiving Day rivalry against Greenfield High School dates back to 1927. Football Fridays at the Bourdeau Fields Complex was always quite the event in the village. In an instant, that piece was gone when the Turners Falls football program suspended its 2019 season.
“I grew up in this town and went to this high school,” Underwood said. “I came back to coach and you want to do the same traditions that you experienced and give it to them.”
For some time during the MIAA decision-making process, the football program, along with the cheerleading team, found itself in limbo.
The news eventually came down that Turners Falls would co-op with Mohawk Trail, and the squad decided it would continue cheering in Buckland.
“I am glad and thankful that we still get to have a season,” Underwood said. “Mohawk was our only contingency plan.”
The transition to cheering for another school, while still wearing Turners Falls uniforms, was not easy.
All of the cheers had to be changed to Mohawk Trail’s mascot and uniform colors. This was after the Powertown had undergone a recent mascot change, temporarily not having a mascot before becoming the Thunder. Mohawk Trail’s mascot is the Warriors.
“We have over 30 or 40 cheers,” Underwood said. “We have to change the mascot, the name of the team which a lot of that has to rhyme. We have to reconfigure it for it to make sense. Getting yourself to reprogram it is really hard because you have it memorized.”
There are times when the squad says the wrong mascot, or the wrong school color during a cheer. Squad members have been able to laugh it off and just enjoy their time cheering.
“They’ve been really good sports about it,” Underwood said of her team. “They realize they could not have had any season. It’s not what we wanted but it’s better than nothing.”
Underwood took care of the transportation, swooping in and getting behind the wheel of the Turners Falls ‘white van.’
The squad goes to all Mohawk Trail games, which by the end of the season will have included trips to three of the four counties in Western Massachusetts.
“Usually the cheerleaders from the other team come say, ‘Hi,” Underwood said. “We explain how we are actually from Turners and the situation. They are understanding and wish us luck.”
The time in the van, aside from differences in music taste, has helped with team bonding and unity.
Kaitlyn Miner is other senior captain on the team.
“Someone always plugs their phone into the Aux,” Miner said. “Everyone starts singing, sometimes we don’t all agree on the same music choices. But everyone decides on a mutual choice in the end.”
The fans in Buckland showed their appreciation for their new cheering squad.
“All the Mohawk fans and parents have been so nice,” Miner said. “They welcomed us with open arms. They bought us brand new poms, brand new blue and gold bows, pink bows. We weren’t even expecting it. Just thank you so much.”
The squad’s next game is a trip to Drury to play the Blue Devils on Saturday.
Squad members include Chloie Sumner, Madison Fritz, Mckenzie Girard, Samantha Thorpe, Allison Wheeler and Journey Smalls.
