Have you ever attended a basketball or football game at Springfield Local? If you have then you know that the student section always has a theme. The students are always there to support their team with the best spirit. They dress alike or all dress in a theme that they have chosen. It’s a unique way to show school spirit!
The themes for games are all picked and promoted by the students. It’s a somewhat new tradition for the students to have a theme for every game including away games. The teams really love it and appreciate the student section more because of the the support shown by the themes.
The theme corresponds to the things that are popular to the time. The harlem shake was huge about 2 years ago. The students would all dress up in random things; for instance, one student dressed up as a banana and one dressed up as a ketchup bottle. Then at half time when the song came on they all started dancing like crazy.
They don’t just do wild things all the time, sometimes it’s just a simple theme like “white out”. Usually white out is a theme for a home game because the team is wearing their white jerseys for basketball. South Range is our biggest rival in any sport here at Springfield. When we play them the theme is always “camo,” and the motto is “you can’t see us.” The students go all out for big rival games for football and basketball. T-shirts are usually made and everyone tends to buy one. This is all coordinated by the student body which is usually the seniors who pick out the themes and make the t-shirts.
Having these themes for the games not only shows the school spirit, it also brings everyone together. The students are just as involved in the games as the players. They get heartbroken when we don’t win and they cheer each other on to play their best. We always go someplace to eat afterward as a big group, the students and players, win or lose.
This tradition that has been started by an anonymous person will keep going for many years to come. It will also be something that the teams will enjoy as well as the students. The school spirit and pride will last forever.

It has been six years since the Tigers have beat the Raiders. The last time the Tigers beat the Raiders was in the 2009-2010 football season.This losing streak came to an end after last Friday’s football game. The score was 34-27 after going into overtime. It was a great feeling for everyone supporting SLHS. South Range now has a record of 5-1, making this game their first loss of the season. The Springfield Tigers now hold a record of 4-2. This game was a well deserved win for the Tigers after hardwork and dedication to the game and a long six years of wanting this win.
Everyone roared about how amazing the game was and how special it meant to many of them. It was the homecoming game which definitely set the tone for homecoming on Saturday. The Tigers had no doubts they were going to win this game and they all did a great job of pulling off this win together as a team. Frankie Centofanti blocked a kick to keep the Raiders from scoring which kept them in overtime with a tied game at this point. That led to Austin Trebella making a pass and JT Sandrock picking up the fumble and scoring the game winning touchdown making the final score 34-27. The whole team stormed out onto the field filled with such excitement and adrenaline.
This game has made history for the Tigers as well as for the Raiders. This win should keep the teams adrenaline going into the next game. This upcoming Friday the Springfield Tigers will be playing the Columbiana Clippers at Columbianas field at 7 o’clock. The Clippers record is 5-1 so they are hoping they can defeat them. The team is hoping to see everyone there for a great game and for some support. Go Tigers!

Every one of Springfield’s sports has been doing a phenomenal job the past couple years and especially this year. Sports like volleyball and soccer haven’t had as much attention, but the team and the players individually have been working hard and they’ve had a great season and deserve to be noticed.
We conducted an interview with Sara Chaszeyka, one of the star players of the volleyball team, to talk about how well the team did this year. Springfield’s volleyball team has had one of their best seasons in a long time, with a winning season of 12-10. The girls played against other great teams like Southern Local and South Range and beat them. Sara says that beating South Range was one of the best moments of the whole season because Springfield’s volleyball team hasn’t beaten South Range’s volleyball team in a long time.
The team wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without great players and great coaches. The two star players of the team, Sara Chaszeyka and Kalen Yemma, got the team very far this year. Sara was awarded Player of the Year for District 1, Division 3, and she had also received First Team District and ITCL. Briana Yemma, another player on the team, has received 2nd district and ITCL for her amazing back row abilities. Kalen is a huge help for the team because the hitters would not hit as good as they do without her. Their back row did a fantastic job getting tips and digs.
At the beginning of the season, the girls would’ve never thought they would get this far. Their goal was to come out with a winning season which they had accomplished. Chaszeyka says their new goal is to make it all the way to the District Finals and win. Sara Chaszeyka and Briana Yemma said that they are both so happy that they got to end their senior year and volleyball career with such an amazing season. If the girls did this good this year, they can definitely do it again in the future.

Peyton Manning announced his retirement on Monday, March 7th. After winning 2 Super Bowl trophies and a record 5 MVP awards, he has decided to end his phenomenal football career.
Manning is the only quarterback in history to win two Super Bowls for two separate franchises. He became a star when he started his career with the Indianapolis Colts. In 2011, he was released from the Colts and sent to the Denver Broncos.
His talent faded slightly towards the end of his career due to his injured arm and foot. However, he still led the Broncos to victory in the 50th Super Bowl. Manning is retiring as as the all-time leader with 539 regular-season touchdown passes and 71,940 yards.
“Peyton was everything that we thought he was and even more — not only for the football team but in the community. I’m very thankful Peyton chose to play for the Denver Broncos, and I congratulate him on his Hall of Fame career,” Broncos general manager John Elway said in a statement.
Congratulations to Peyton on his legacy in football and his retirement.

On January 15, 2016, Springfield faced South Range for the rival basketball game of the year! This game was featured as WKBN’s Game of the Week.
The Tigers took the victory with a final score of 59-42. The Tigers now stand at 10-3 on the season, 4-0 in the league. The Raiders fell to 10-3 and 3-1 in league play.
Graham Mincher had a game-high 26 points to lead Springfield to their win over South Range. This earned him the honor of Player of the Game! “We’re on a good streak, everyone is working hard. We like where we’re going,” junior guard Jake Ford said. “We just played hard, never gave up and just wanted it more than they did.” Jake added.
The Springfield student section in their camouflage apparel cheerfully supported the boys, and the students even stormed the court after the win. Congrats Tigers, and best wishes for a successful season!

Many don’t know that Mikel Flatley, a student at Springfield Local High School is a swimming star. Some of her accomplishments include first place in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly at many local meets including one on January 6, 2016 in Canton against St. Thomas Aquinas, Central Catholic and Cardinal Mooney.
Flatley’s mother was a swimmer and is the coach of Mikel’s swim team. Mikel’s mother has been a huge supporting factor since Flatley was five and first started swimming. This mother-daughter bond through swimming has been an important part of Mikel’s success.
Though do not be fooled, just because her mother is the coach, Mikel doesn’t get to slack off. Mikel keeps herself in competitive shape by working out about 2 hours a day, 4-5 days a week and swimming up to 4 miles every practice. This doesn’t even include the meets she goes to on Saturday. This hard work and determination is what has made Mikel such an amazing swimmer. However, becoming such an outstanding swimmer isn’t easy.
Mikel has had to compete against many big schools such as Austintown. Defeating these schools is no easy feat for Mikel. Yet in Flatley’s mind she keeps cool because she has been swimming with these people since she was little. Therefore, she doesn’t think of them as big, separate teams because they were all on the same team once. In fact, one of her main motivations are her friends. Mikel states, “My teammates give me the motivation to practice so that I can do better at the meet.” Some of her best memories come from when she was younger and making new friends in the sport she loves.
In fact her favorite memory of swimming was when she was 10 years old. Mikel made the Lake Erie Zone Team and qualified for the meet in Indianapolis. She states, “We had a team hotel and got assigned roommates. The meet was fun and I made a lot of friends.” Even Mikel, a great and determined swimmer, knows making friends and enjoying what you do is important. Congratulations Mikel on all of your achievements! Go out and swim for the stars!

This year the Springfield Volleyball Team is “Going well, but there is a lot of tough competition,” in the words of team player Quinn Crowe. So far the Volleyball team has a nice record of 8 wins and 7 losses. We talked to some players about their season and what they like about playing Volleyball for Springfield.

We asked Michaela Cavalcanti who the team’s biggest rivalry was and she replied, “Definitely South Range”. Then we asked them who they thought the best player of the team was and they said, “Kasey Kohler.” We asked Lindsey Druschel what she liked most about playing Volleyball and she said, “I like the energy of it, and how you don’t really know when the game will be over. It can really keep going depending on what happens.” We also asked all three of these players who they felt was the leader of the team and they all said, “Lindsey Druschel.” The leader of the team works really hard and knows what is best for the team during the game.

The Tigers Volleyball Team has had a good season so far and are giving each and every game their all. Good luck to the volleyball team. Go out to cheer and support them during the game!

The Springfield Local High School soccer team is hosting the annual Kick for the Cure game on October 12th. This game will raise money for breast cancer awareness.

Each ticket is 6 dollars, but if you buy an official Kick for the Cure shirt, you get in for free.

Each soccer player is selling shirts. They say, “One Team, One Dream” in pink and purple writing and cost 10 dollars. If interested, contact any high school soccer player. The Kick for the Cure game is against Youngstown Christian. Come support your favorite soccer girls on October 12th and let’s help find a cure!

In football there are two sides to the game, Offense and Defense. Both sides are equally important because without one the other would suffer. The reason why you need both sides of the football is because as the offense’s job to score as many points as possible throughout the game, but if the defense gives up points to the other team or offense might not score enough points to win.
The Tigers Football team shows this is true with their performance in the first 5 games.They were won because the opponent was unable to score on the defense and could only gain a combined total of 52 point with the offense totaling an impressive 127 points in 3 games. If the defense lets the other team get to a really good field position then the offense has less room for mistakes because then they might get a safety and it limits the plays the offense can run.

On the same note, the same thing goes for the offense. If the defense does not allow the other team to score or really move the ball, but the offense can’t score, it puts more pressure on the defense to stop the other team and makes little room for mistakes. This also makes the defense stay on the field for longer and tires the defense out making it harder to prevent the other team from scoring.  

The Tigers defense gave up 31 points in the 2 games they lost and the offense only scored 7. No doubt that the Tigers will continue to to use impressive strategies to beat their upcoming opponents.

The Springfield Tiger basketball season has finally came to an end. They had a great season and accomplished so much.

The Springfield Tigers ended up with a record of 24-1 and their only loss coming in the District finals against Canton Central Catholic. The Tigers lost that game 45-33, but they fought their hearts out and gave it everything they had. The Tigers accomplished so much this season.  They won the ITCL and sectionals and went an outstanding 24-1, and Coach Fender was awarded Coach of the Year. The Tigers definitely proved that hard work does pay off.

Although the season is over, this season will be remembered for a long time with everything the Tigers accomplished and the memories that were made. Thank you to all who made this season a great one! See you next year!