By Mike Anderson

Tribune-Herald staff writer

Waco High may not have a pep rally planned before Friday’s state championship football game, but don’t take that to mean the school isn’t bursting at the seams with spirit.

Fresh from their victory Saturday over the Frenship Tigers, the Lions take on the La Marque Cougars for the state title at 7:30 p.m. Friday in San Antonio’s Alamodome.

Whether in chartered buses, vehicle caravans or single cars, Waco High boosters are expected to descend en masse on the Alamo City to support the high school’s first state title game since 1948, well before the school consolidated with two others and opened the doors at its current building.

“Man, I felt like a travel agent yesterday and today with all the people trying to arrange to go to the game,” assistant principal Lisa Saxenian said. “I know a lot of people in the community are going to go. It’s going to be a great turnout.”

Four buses have been chartered to take people from Waco to the game, and one of those has already filled its 55 seats, school officials said.

Other fans, such as Wacoan Jane Bounds, plan to travel to San Antonio in their personal vehicles with groups of friends. Bounds, a 1965 graduate of Richfield High School, which was consolidated with Waco High in 1986, said she and a group of friends have gone as a group to every game this season.

“We already have the ‘lionmobile’ ready to go,” she said. “It’s a minivan that we are really going to decorate up.”

Bounds added, “We are going to win, and it’s not even going to be close.”

Among those planning to attend Friday’s game is Lake Air Middle School teacher and coach James Stewart. Some of the team’s players were on the first football team he coached when he started at Lake Air, and the championship game is a graduation of sorts, he said.

“I am very proud of them,” Stewart said. “You could see the potential in them when they were in the eighth grade. But for that one team out of all those around Texas to go to state to play, it’s a great honor.”

He added, “Let’s get out there and get it done.”

Waco Independent School District athletic director Johanna Denson said football coach Johnny Tusa decided to tone down pregame revelry to benefit the team.

“I know Coach Tusa is known to not want a lot of fanfare before the game,” Denson said. “You celebrate after the event is over. You celebrate success. He tends not to want pep rallies. Most of our coaches feel it really distracts the athletes.”

Team mascot Claudia Copeland said she is pumped for the game and doesn’t begrudge not having a pep rally in advance.

“I’m really excited because this is my first year as mascot, and it is really awesome to go to state and be able to mascot in the Alamodome,” she said.

Though there is no pep rally or send-off planned for the team, the school is showing its spirit in other ways.

Cheerleaders and the drill team painted school windows with messages of support for the team, and the entrance is lined with posters. The school already has sold out an order of 120 commemorative T-shirts, and another 140 have been ordered to sell at the game, Saxenian said.

Principal Donald Garrett also ordered 500 red pompoms to be given away at the game so that people can cheer the team, she said.

But some like Bounds said they plan to bring noisemakers to help ensure Waco’s presence is known Friday night.

“We are going to take two cowbells, three hand clappers and a milk jug with rocks in it,” she said. “I mean, we are going to make some noise.”

manderson@wacotrib.com

757-5741

Getting to the game

Take Interstate 35 south to San Antonio. Exit at New Braunfels Street, and go south to Commerce Street. Take Commerce west to Cherry Street, and go south to the stadium.

Tickets are available today at Waco ISD Stadium from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. for $6 for adults and $4 for students. Tickets also will be sold at the Alamodome for $10.

To reserve a seat on a charter bus through Clark Travel, call 799-3284. Tickets cost $30, which includes snacks and drinks.