by Maleny Mireles
New Prairie High School senior football players beat the Blue Blazers and the cold for their senior night.
Senior night for the boys was held on October 12th at their home game against Elkhart Central. New Prairie beat the Blue Blazers 49-0. Touchdowns scored were included by seniors Cade Boniface, Daniel Tyler, and Connor Surber. At the start of the game, the boys met with their parents to be individually called to the middle of the field to be recognized.
The players include Cade Boniface, Mike Klemczak, Javier Padilla, Dylan Rose, Alec Schultz, Aaron Smith, Connor Surber, Jacob Tuttle, Daniel Tyler, and Kyle Weber.
Other groups were also recognized, including seniors from marching band, cheer, dance and cross country.
The special night was interrupted by chilling 36 degree weather and pouring frigid rain. However, this didn’t stop the Cougars. “The cold and the rain made me play harder,” said Alec Schultz, New Prairie’s senior outside linebacker.
The Cougars also gained support from the student section.
“I showed up in a USA tank top, but the adrenaline from hyping up the student section and seeing the Cougars play hard kept me fired up,” said Graham Gangloff, a New Prairie senior.
Most of the boys, besides senior Connor Surber who has been playing since he was in kindergarten, played on a team together since 7th grade.
Senior Dylan Rose, New Prairie’s defensive end, was inspired to play football because there was not a soccer team.
“The best part of the night was shutting them out, but I’m going to miss playing together,” says Rose.
New Prairie, who holds a 6-3 record, played the 3-6 South Bend Washington Panthers in the first round of playoffs on October 19th. The Cougars won 56-7.