Lexie Pilz

Set on the line of scrimmage, senior Chris Atkinson and his fellow Longhorns face off against Oakville Sept. 6. “Because we’re playing for the Mayor’s Cup and it’s our senior night, throughout practice we’ve been a lot more in it and focused,” Atkinson said. “We’re really confident for tonight, and on a scale of one to 10, we’re a nine. It’s going to be a fun game, but it’s just sad that it’s senior night.”

Once a mere placeholder on the varsity football schedule, the annual Mayor’s Cup game against Parkway Central has evolved into a highly-contentious affair between the two crosstown rivals. Fresh off a historic victory last year, the Longhorns look to defend their home turf–and possession of the Cup–tonight.

“[The Mayor’s Cup] is important every year. They are trying to do a theme to raise awareness for Make-A-Wish. I don’t think it would have mattered who we were playing this week, it just happened to land on our last home game, senior night,” varsity football head coach Jeff Duncan said. “Central and West is now a great rivalry, it has been since I’ve been here, and we were able to beat them last year for the first time in 10 years. Hopefully, we can get them again this year.”

A spirit week was planned and put together by Longhorn Council (LOCO) to generate excitement for the game and t-shirts were sold to raise money for the Make-A-Wish foundation. LOCO hosted a spirit week to advertise the game and t-shirts were sold to raise money for Make-a-Wish foundation. 

“We raise money for a specific philanthropy every year,” LOCO president and senior Angie Jia said. “We use the Mayor’s Cup as a way for fundraising and to bring the school together. We sold a bunch of t-shirts and all the proceeds are going to Make-A-Wish, so that was a big part of it.”

Like homecoming week, LOCO planned the Mayor’s Cup spirit week as a fun way for students and staff to encourage the football team.

“We decided to do a spirit week, and we made all the days super easy just so people could participate and it was not like homecoming week where you have to go all out. It’s just a fun way to get people involved,” Jia said. 

As students and staff pack the stands tonight, there are high hopes for the spirit of the crowd. 

“[I hope to see] a lot of excitement, I think our [players] feed off of that,” Duncan said. “How many people are there, how loud they are and how much they cheer, so I think if they can get excited, hopefully, our [players] can get excited too.”