Wildcat Cheerleading

Group photo combined of all three Cheerleading Squads for the Annual Cheerleading Poster.

I was fortunate enough to get to photograph the Blue Springs High School Cheerleaders this year on several occasions.  Last month I took a group photo of all three squads with a Firetruck for their annual Cheerleading Poster.  It couldn't have been a better day and with the cooperation of all the cheerleaders and the CJC Fire Department we were able to make a nice poster. 

Then with the ending of the Football season and a very short break before starting the Basketball season, I was able to find some time to take their individual portraits last week.  I photographed three poses of each individual cheerleader to design a Digital Collage of each one and then used one of the poses to design a Team Collage for each of the three cheerleading squads.  Thanks Wildcats!

Varsity Squad

Eagles vs. Wildcats - Playoffs

The Eagles played the Harrisonville Wildcats in the first round of the Playoffs and they looked to be tired and overlooking the competition.  The game was probably our worst outing on offense all year and unfortunately not much better on defense.  We had more turnovers in this one game than we had combined the rest of the season... 

It's hard to run the ball when we don't block.

Being held and still got the tackle in the backfield!

 With that said, Kendall had a pretty good game.  He didn't seem to get the opportunity to carry the ball much as coach was trying a few new things but when he did carry it he did well. He had a great game on Defense as he made several key tackles which saved a few big plays.  Well, the team picked the wrong time to let down but I think they had a good season overall and learned some great things about football and teamwork.  Good Luck next year Eagles!

Tough matchup but blocking one of the biggest boys on the field when asked to.

Eagles vs. Oak Grove #2

Great run in the first half.

The last regular season game was held in Oak Grove with the Eagles playing the other Oak Grove team and it turned out to be the best overall game played by the Eagles all year.  Earlier in the week I tried to motivate them to practice hard and to carry that over into the game on Saturday by telling them that I would buy ice cream if they had good practices all week and won the game.  Well, I don't know if that is what done it or not - but they played the best game of the season by defeating the Oak Grove team and holding them scoreless.  We were able to produce a pretty good lead by halftime and coach felt comfortable enough to spread the ball around and let several players run the ball that hadn't got the opportunity earlier in the season.  I think some of them were surprised how hard it is to gain much yardage when the line doesn't block and open the hole like they are supposed to.

Good tackle to hold the Panthers scoreless.

 I was reminded as soon as the game was over about what I promised and I followed it up with providing Ice Cream for all the players and Coaches at the next practice.  Unfortunately this practice was one of the coldest of the season and was not ideal to be eating ice cream but we did...  Way to go Eagles!

MSHSAA State Cheerleading Championships

Lizzy doing what she does best - Make Noise!

The Blue Springs High School Varsity and Co-Ed Cheerleading Teams competed in the Missouri State High School Athletic Association State Cheerleading Championships in Columbia at the Hearnes Center on October 1st.  While both teams performed very well, the Co-Ed team was named State Champions in their division.  It was a very fun experience for everyone involved and we enjoyed seeing Lizzy perform on the Competition Floor again.  Go Wildcats!

Look at those muscles!

Breast Cancer Awareness

Blue Springs High School Cheerleaders participated in the Breast Cancer Awareness Month by wearing the Pink hair bows and "eye pink" during the month of October.  The football team responded as well by wearing pink athletic tape, gloves, towels, etc. and defeating all of their competition throughout the month.

Eagles vs. Warrensburg

Blocking when needed....

Another tough matchup, as the Warrensburg Tigers ran several tricky plays to catch our defense offguard to score on the big plays.  Our defense was not prepared for all of the trickery the Tigers brought to the game and although we were able to hold them on the majority of the plays - the reverse played out very well by catching our Linebackers biting for the fakes.  Again our Offense struggled to get rolling but our defense kept us in the game until they set up a few big plays by running the reverse.  Kendall had another big day by running the ball several times and getting more time on defense when coach installed the quicker boys to defend their reverse plays.  He had several great tackles and even caught them in the backfield on two occasions when they would try to run wide. 

Huge stop in the backfield...

Eagles vs. Odessa

Not exactly what we had in mind for Grain Valley Homecoming weekend, but the boys had fun.  The day started off with a great parade and the boys enjoyed riding on the Homecoming Parade Float decorated by many of the team mom's.  Then we hurried out to the Youth Football Fields for a game against the visiting Odessa Bulldogs.  We expected it to be a difficult game as Odessa was undefeated and believed to be one of the best teams in the 3rd Grade League. 

From the very first play, Odessa took the ball and ran for a touchdown and our boys were a little shell shocked.  The first half was all Odessa and after a brief cool down period and a powerful talk by Coach Gary at the half, the boys settled down and played much better and shut them down in the second half.  Unfortunately it was too late and our offense was unable to get it rolling but at least things looked more positive and held Odessa from scoring in the second half.  Keep your heads up Eagles!