On Sept. 28, the annual Homecoming football game at CHS took place against Ben Davis. Students gathered across the stadium to cheer on the players and push the team to victory. While the roars of students echoed across the field, defensive tackle and senior Miles Flynn stayed focused on the game and assisted his team to a 21-7 triumph. Flynn has grown accustomed to the crowd’s presence but said that the crowd has an undoubtable effect on the game.

“I prefer larger crowds,” Flynn said. “Larger crowds bring more noise than smaller crowds. When it comes to larger there’s so much going on; it’s just more energy and we like that.”

According to Flynn, the number of people in the crowd depends on whether it is a home or away game and the opponent.

Spirit leader and basketball player John Michael Mulloy explained the importance of getting fans to attend sports games. He believes it helps the athletes’ performance and creates a good atmosphere. Mulloy’s perspective as a basketball player has allowed him to witness the effect of the crowd.

“On the basketball court if we do something good, the crowd goes crazy; it gets us to play better, have more fun and it elevates our game too,” Mulloy said.

Varsity inside linebacker coach Chris Laigaard believes that the crowd does have an impact on the athletes and he would prefer to see larger crowds in the stands.

“I think the crowd totally energizes them,” Laigaarwd said.  “You can go from feeling tired and winded to full of energy really quick just from when the crowd all of a sudden gets into it.”

Although he prefers larger crowds, Flynn said his coaches encourage the athletes to ignore the crowd and pay attention to the game instead.

Varsity defensive line coach Sid Swartzendruber said, “I think it (the crowd) does help, I think the kids want to see the stands full there’s no question about that, but we try to convey to them that that’s not the most important thing.”

According to Swartzendruber, the most important goal for the team is to get a win from their opponents, which means focusing on the game and not the crowd.

“We don’t really notice them (the crowd) at all,” Flynn said. “We just don’t really care about what the crowd thinks; we win on our own energy.”

When Flynn is on the field, he appreciates the support of the crowd but tries to get into the moment of the game.

“I think what we try to do with our kids is to get them to realize that it’s about us and the team and your support group,” Swartzendruber said. “We can’t worry about who’s in the stands when it comes playoff time because chances are you’re going to have more away games than home games in the playoffs if you keep moving, it’s just a reality that people aren’t going to travel really far unless they’re part of your support group, so we’re used to that.”