The football stadium was packed with fans decked out in their black and gold for the homecoming game on Oct. 10 against the Ladue Rams. It was a perfect day for football, sunny and not a cloud in sight. The large crowd cheered as the U. City Lions, wearing pink to honor Breast Cancer Awareness month, charged through the banner held up by the cheerleaders.

U. City started out strong. With two minutes and 24 seconds left in the first quarter, Keondre Bledsoe, senior quarterback, scored a touchdown, followed by an extra point scored by Pablo Lopez-Reyna, senior kicker, leading the Lions into the second quarter winning 7-0. Ronnie Perkins, sophomore defensive end, made a touchdown after receiving the ball from Bledsoe, making the score 14-0. Bledsoe threw a pass to Du’rl Singleton, senior wide receiver and safety, for a touchdown. Ladue gained possession and scored a touchdown with 18 seconds left in the second quarter, leading them into halftime with a score of 21-7.
Lopez-Reyna went into halftime feeling confident.

“I felt the second half should be a bit easier.”

For the half-time show, the band and Golden Girls took the field. Afterwards, both teams took the field, ready to dominate. Ladue scored another touchdown and extra point in the third quarter, closing the gap to 14-21.

With 10 minutes and 33 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Ladue scored again, tying the game 21-21. For the second time in the fourth quarter, Ladue made another touchdown and an extra point ending the game with a final score of 28-21, devastating U. City’s hopes of a homecoming win. Players walked off the field, heads hung low, and some were even crying.

Players were incredibly upset about the outcome of the game.

“We should’ve won,” said Tyson Willis, senior linebacker, “We were up 21 points, we should’ve made a comeback.”

Zac Bush, junior defensive back, thought that the biggest problem of the game was staying focused.
According to Bush, the cause of the loss was “not staying determined and taking our foot off the gas. We let up too easily.”

U. City’s loss made an impact on the rest of the homecoming festivities for Bush.

“I feel like I don’t want to go to the dance,” Bush said. ”It’s a heartbreaking loss, really.”

Despite the upsetting loss, the atmosphere of the game and the school spirit stayed strong. The U. City crowd was massive compared to the amount of Ladue fans in the stadium. The alumni band and dancers who returned to perform looked as if they’d never left and the boys soccer team showed their spirit by painting their chests black and gold.

Head coach Jameson Allen thought the players went into the homecoming game really fired up and thought the atmosphere was amazing.

“The fans were great, the band was great and we fed off of it for a while,” said Allen. “We just needed to find the missing pieces and put it all together.”

Cameron Davis, senior center and linebacker, thought that the alumni band members coming back to play for the game was really great.

Davis said, “I just wish we won the game, it would make the atmosphere better.”

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