Friday night’s football game at Francis Howell Central was all but boring, with a lightning delay that caused an impromptu party between two battling schools and a recovery that turned around the entire game around. Although they lost 56-48 to Fort Zumwalt East, multiple injuries and an onrushing storm couldn’t take the fight out of the Spartans.

The games highlights included: A 60-yard touchdown by junior Dylan Thaxton, a deep pass throw to senior Nathan Garthe for a touchdown, and a big onside kick which turned the whole game around and from that point the team started coming back. They may not have gotten the end result they wanted, but it was a good game even with the storm looming over their heads.

After halftime, an announcement came over the speakers warning people to be prepared in case of a lightning delay. Shortly after the announcement, multiple strikes of lightning were seen over Saeger Middle School and everyone rushed inside to the large gym. While in the gym, music came on the overhead speakers and students from both schools danced in the center of the gym. At one point, they had formed a gigantic conga line. After about 30 minutes, everyone headed back outside, and the Spartans turned the game around for themselves.

According to Sensations dancer Taylor Fumagalli, the dance team was going to perform again in the gym during the delay, but they were interrupted by the crowd joining them on the gym floor.

“We were gonna perform again but then everyone came down and then everyone started dancing and there was a big old conga line and I just remember looking around and saying ‘This is probably the best moment of high school ever’”, Taylor said.  

Sophomore Aleaha Brazell who had attended the game with friends and participated in the festivities in the gym said it was really amazing.

“Everyone was like in a big circle and we were dancing to the music, throwing around the beach balls, and we were singing all so loud and doing the conga. Actually, I had a lot of fun. It was pretty fun, not gonna lie”, Aleaha said. “I thought it was one of the good moments. A good way to start off sophomore year.”

After the delay, the team turned things around for the most part even though they did not receive the results they had hoped for. Running back and sophomore, Cameron Hatten, believes that the team fought well even if they didn’t get the score they had hoped for in the end.

“At the end, it wasn’t the result we wanted, but we fought hard to the end and lost by a score,” Hatten said. “We could’ve done better, there was a lot of mental mistakes that we all did, and that’s why we’re going back to practice and fixing them and we’re gonna beat South this Friday and do better.”

Junior Weston Klein, running back and long snapper, hopes that the team will do as well as JV did at their game against East this past Monday where they won 44-0.