Roll, Tribe, Roll…

Courtesy of VHS

The Vidalia High School it three for three on Friday in GHSA State Championship Game Day Cheer Team made Atlanta, taking their 3rd in Atlanta. With the win the Lady Indians are the first team to three-peat as GHSA State Champions in Game Day Cheerleading.

This State Championship is the sixth State Title for the Vidalia Cheer Team since 2003. The first three of the six Championships were earned in Competition Cheer in 2004, 2016, and 2019. The Game Day title run began in year one of the Championships for the Indians in 2022, and they have now won two in 2023, as the GHSA shifted the season from Winter to Fall.

Vidalia entered the Fi – nals on Friday night as the number one seed after finishing the qualifying round in 1st place with a score of 192.850, 7.4 points higher than second place Heard County and Haralson County. When all was said and done, the Indians outpaced Haralson, who finished 2nd, and Model, who moved up four spots in the Finals to finish 3rd. “During prelims, our first-time competitors were able to “steal their nerves ', said Vidalia Head Coach Ann Michele Toole. "Half of the team are first-time competitors, and they were very anxious yet determined to deliver on the commitment to excellence. We were more confident going into the Fi nals round.”

Toole went on to say that in the finals, the team was “definitely all in,” which was evident in the performance. "In our Final's performance, it was evident that every team member was 100% ALL IN for their team. There was no doubt in my mind continued from page

that we had done everything within our control to be our best.”

In the Game Day competition, the ability to engage and lead the crowd is a part of the scoring mechanism, and Coach Toole said that the Vidalia fans were “outstanding” in their support. “Crowd Leading plays a role in Game Day scoring, and we are thankful to the outstanding support of family and friends who made the trip to support the team. Our girls’ use of signs really helped our fans follow us and join in. They were a great asset in the stands! And as hard as it was to ask our Vidalia UGA fans to yell a similar Alabama phrase 'Roll, Tribe, Roll', it absolutely paid off.'

With the win, Vidalia became the first threetime State Champion in the sport, which began in 2019, and Toole gave her team high marks for their performance and commitment, “I am incredibly proud of their commitment to the standard of excellence we have set for ourselves in this sport. Truly, we set out to score higher than our previous opportunities. Although that is tough, each year, we have reached that goal.”