By Taelor Evenson/Gator Galaxy Staff

Fall sports always bring big crowds, as students are pumped up and ready to start a new season. Football and volleyball are the two fall sports who see the largest, loudest crowds.

Right now, North Star is the top football team in Lincoln and ranked ninth by the Lincoln Journal Star.

North Star has had the biggest student section at football games than has seen in awhile. Having themes at the games really gets students involved. Junior Julia Fomenko said her favorite theme has been, “Probably patriot day, because it is supporting our country.” Fomenko’s favorite part of game day is “dressing up for the theme and being in the student section with friends and cheering on our fellow Gator athletes.

Junior football player Brady Jones said the student support really helps during games, “The student section makes the players feel as if you have the whole school behind you. These students don’t have to come to our games they choose too, for us,” Jones said.

On Friday, Sept. 4, North Star beat Lincoln East for the first time since 2010. “We had a very rough game against Lincoln East last year,” Jones said. “Going into the game, we went in with complete confidence, and knew that if every play we called we brought it, we would end up on top. It felt good that we were able to have that to be our first home game.”

Even with the success, the team still has had its share of challenges. “One of our teams largest challenges this year is the dependability of our players. A lot of our players play both sides of the ball both offense and defense all game. This can sometimes make them perform at a lower level,” Jones said.

Junior Alexa Mustard is a setter on varsity. Mustard said watching the student section fill up before a game “just gets me more excited and ready to play and kill it.” Mustard said when the student section is cheering, it really helps her athletic performance. Mustard also said the student section can do a lot to keep players pumped up. “Cheer, try not to be negative, and stay the whole time.”

Some big games coming up for the volleyball team are Norfolk on Sept. 21, Omaha Westside on Sept. 29, and Columbus on Oct. 1.

Senior Varsity Cheerleader Katasia Cahn has seen a lot of changes in the student section, even from football to volleyball. “Football seems the be more hype, and volleyball seems to be more monotone.” As one of the varsity captains, Cahn said “My plan is to keep the spirit up, even if we are down by 20 [points].”