Seniors spread school spirit as mascots

The Red Knight mascot is a tradition passed down from senior class to senior class. Each year, a new student is chosen to portray our school’s mascot at football games, each adding a new spin and personality to the character. This legendary senior class has elected not one, not two, but three mascots over this historic football season.

Senior Auggie Moore was the first to take the responsibility of the Red Knight. “George Boosalis told me he wanted me to be the mascot for the football team, and he was last year… he just passed it down,” Moore said. Seniors Nick Gionet and Frankie Gormley, the other two cheering machines, got this opportunity when Moore couldn’t make it to one of the games. All three are natural-born mascots; in fact, Gormley had prior experience. He worked as a character at Nickelodeon Universe, so when he was called upon, he embraced the challenge.

All three seniors agreed that they took on a great responsibility when they became our mascot. “You want to be able to make everybody stay engaged in the game and also be having a good time at the game,” Gormley said.

It is no small task to command the massive student sections that the Red Knight sports teams draw, so mascots definitely have their hands full. But, we chose the right men for the job, for our courageous mascots confidently state that they thrive under pressure. “I occasionally thought I was going to [vomit] because there were so many people looking at me, but I didn’t because I am very good under pressure,” Gionet said. Moore went so far as to claim: “Once I throw that helmet on and when the cape is flowing behind me, I think all my qualities are just magnified.”

There are many perks that come along with the mascot job to make up for the pressure of responsibility. Gormley loves to lead the team out after halftime, and this writer can say from experience that this is indeed very thrilling. Moore was able to find many new friends in the cheer team, who welcomed him into their community and allowed him to help with their cheers and dances. Nick Gionet told me emphatically that he loves doing pushups in front of his fellow students after every Red Knights touchdown. All in all, we are blessed to have such dedicated, talented mascots at our school to complement our football Knights.