![Walking through the tunnel created by the cheerleaders and Celebrities, senior Frances Tran smiles as the soccer team is sent off during DEN for their playoff game against Rouse tonight. Tran said the wins against Smithson Valley and Alamo Heights gave the team a morale boost to take on the Raiders tonight. “I know we were not 100% confident in those games,” Tran said. “But, Rouse is a big opponent for sure. We’re definitely going into tonight with a lot of morale [because of the previous wins].”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/frances-tran.jpg)
![Holding a bucket of materials in one hand and a roll of tape in another, anatomy and biology teacher Tyler Terry prepares for a lab. Terry said his proudest moments are when his students are happy to see him. “When I take my wife to a football game or something and a bunch of students want to say hi to me or they like to smile and wave and it just makes me feel good that the students are really kind and supportive of me,” Terry said. “[I’m also] proud when I see students perform really well in their extracurriculars because I can see how hard they’re working in my classes, [so] when I see that they’re also working so hard in other things. Like they’re winning band competitions or they’re getting awards for their theater productions, or I see them put on their choir shows, that’s like, wow, you guys are incredible.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Rags-6.png)
![Catching a ball, junior Alivia Robinson plays at the Cedar Park vs Glenn game. Having played since she was 5 years old, she is dedicated to softball and has committed to UTPB for softball. “When I got my offer it took me a very long time to decide where,” Robinson said. “Softball has always been my dream for college, and UTPB is my fit. When [I committed] I knew I was going to be loved and supported.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Lilly-Adams-3.13aliviaedit-901.jpg)
![Holding her dog, Nova, senior Ariana Balakrishnan poses for her senior pictures while Nova wears a bandana with her college decision. Balakrishnan applied to 18 colleges in total, but she decided on Columbia in the end. “Right before I clicked the button to open Columbia’s letter, I literally looked at the camera and go ‘This is just gonna really suck because I wanted it so bad,’ and I clicked it and all of a sudden you hear trumpets,” Balakrishnan said. “There’s a video that plays when you open it and I actually didn’t watch the video, I just watched the screen go black, because every day of December before ED [Early Decision] I would go on YouTube and watch the acceptance video to manifest it, so immediately when the screen went black, I started screaming and jumping up and down. And my parents in the video are like ‘What are you doing, where’s the letter,’ and I was just screaming ‘I got in, I got in.” I just started crying, and it just felt like everything in the world came together.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/ariana-2-300x217.jpg)
There has been an unusual amount of injuries among the white and green freshmen football teams this season. With several first-string players being benched, everyone is wondering how it’s affected the freshmen season, and how so many kids are injured.
Freshmen football coach Clint Hormann chalks up the teams significant injuries to just plain bad luck.
“It’s unfortunate because they are good guys,” Hormann said.
For some freshmen players it has been a long season on the bench. Green team right tackle Aaron Richter fractured his hip at the first game of the season against Westlake and has been out for the entire season. Fellow green-teamer running back Baxter Robertson is upset about being sidelined with a torn ACL for at least four months.
“You can’t really do anything except watch people play football,” Robertson said.
Despite their injuries, the freshmen boys are optimistic about playing next season and are content with taking the elevator to all of their classes.
The misfortune of the sidelined players is hurting the entire freshmen football program too. The chaos that comes with replacing injured players and rearranging the white and green teams has been a major setback according to Hormann.
“It’s been difficult to gel as a team because of the personnel change,” Hormann said.
Even though it was difficult in the beginning, Hormann also claims this year’s injuries have had a profound effect on the entire team.
“It has made us a better team,” Hormann said. “It forced guys to step up and take on new responsibilities.”
With the encouragement and support from their teammates on the bench, Hormann is confident that the remaining freshmen will be able to win their final game of the season against Dripping Springs tonight.
“If we execute our offensive and defensive schemes in a precise fashion we should win the game,” Hormann said.
