The student section’s attendance at the first two varsity football games was filled to the edges. Changes brought by students in Devils Den, a club introduced to bring more people to all South sports games, are proving to be effective.

According to Devils Den President Tommy Daudlin ’20, they meet on Fridays before games to get everything they want to introduce during the game ready. Daudlin said a lot of preparation goes into the games to make sure everything runs smoothly.

“We made posters to put up for the chants, we bought glow sticks that we gave to people in the stands and glow sticks to give to the crowd,” Daudlin said. 

These ideas all came together at the school’s first home game as they cheered on all of the athletes. Starting quarterback Alex Shaheen ’ ’20 said he had the students in the back of his mind while he was playing.

“It makes the team feel really good when we know the school has our back,” Shaheen said. 

The student section is not only for the fan’s enjoyment, according to Justin Maccagnone ’21, who said having a large student section can bring the team together. 

 “We know that there is a ton of people watching us and if we screw up everyone sees it,”  Maccagnone said. “Having a large student section definitely creates a lot more pressure but I think that translates over to having a lot more focus.”

Daudlin said the Devils Den actually has a lot of preparation before games to make sure everything works out well in the end. They wanted to make sure there were no problems during the game but that did not go completely as planned.

“The one thing that did backfire is that we never thought that giving out glow sticks would end up with them being thrown back onto the track,” Daudlin said. “So that is something that went bad.”

Changes in student sections are not only being brought to football, but Maccagnone also said he is going to start going to a lot of other sports to show his appreciation and support as well. 

“I think that since everyone goes to the football games, the student sections for other sports will improve, and I will be more motivated to go to other sporting events,” Maccagnone said.

Shaheen said things are a lot different this year than they have been in the past, and that the players love the changes to the student section and want to be apart of it as well.

“I know that when we play and we see the student section kids having fun in the stands we want to create that for other sports too,” Shaheen said.