It was dead silence this past Saturday at Morgan County’s gym. A gym full of teams and spectators were waiting for the announcement of this year’s Region 8-AAA champion. This year it was the Stephens County competition cheer team celebrating the announcement of the Region 8-AAA champion. The Lady Indians were crowned region champs for the second time in program history last Saturday in Madison.
“When they announced our school’s name as the region champions we all just erupted in screams and tears,” SCHS head coach Cathy Thornton said. “It was just that confirmation that all of our hard work, time, and energy that the coaches and athletes put in was worth it. We had a huge crowd of fans that came to support. So to be able to win it in front of all of those people was amazing. A feeling that is so hard to describe.”
Thornton and the Lady Indians beat out Thornton’s daughter’s team Mollie Payne who is the head coach of Hart County. They also bested out the reigning region champions East Jackson, Oconee County and Franklin County. The Lady Indians were on top as the Lady Eagles were the region’s runner-up. The Lady Bulldogs were in third place while the Lady Warriors placed fourth. The Lady Lions fell in fifth place. Winning the region championship for the second time in program history was special especially for two of the assistant coaches.
“Both Emily (Morgan) and Kaitlan (Knight) were actually cheerleaders on the 2015 region championship team with me and Whitney (Roberson) and now they get to experience it from a coaching standpoint,” Thornton said. “I think that’s really cool.”
Members of the team include Sara Franklin, Mariah hunt, katie grace Randall Juniors: Harper lecroy, Brooklynn Taylor, Isabelle Arnold, Madison Dean, Gracie Ellis, Kami Hattaway, McKenzie Mack, Rylee McIntyre, Michaela Nadeau, Kate Oldham, Sailor Ott, Lydia Wilson, Anderson DeFoor, Audrey Morris, Kinsley Thomason, Kelsey Watkins, and Andi Williams.