The
Mansfield Senior High football team makes its way through the high school before
boarding buses for the trip to Canton. Thursday
afternoon will rank forever as one of the most emotional days in the history of
Mansfield Senior High School.
Students and staff lined both levels of the high school and middle school to “clap out” the Tyger football team as they left for the Div. III state championship game on Friday.
Head coach
Chioke Bradley, his players and assistant coaches will stay near Canton
tonight, then meet Trotwood-Madison in the title game at 3 p.m. Friday on the
Tom Benson Hall of Fame field.
Cheers,
applause, tears and many high-fives greeted the team as they wound their way
through the hallways, escorted by cheerleaders, the TY-Tyger mascot and the
Tyger marching band.
“It was electrifying, simply electrifying,” said Superintendent Stan Jefferson. “It was an emotional time for all.”
Students and staff, some with tears of pride glistening in their eyes, stepped out to hug players. Friday will be Mansfield Senior High’s first appearance in a football state championship game.
The procession moved through the atrium and out the main entrance, where the team boarded two waiting school buses. Cheers and applause echoed as the buses pulled away, led by the sirens and flashing red-and-blue lights of the Mansfield Police Department, Richland County Sheriff’s Office, the Ohio Highway Patrol and the Mansfield Fire Department.