The Stunt team was starting out its 4th season as an official athletic program at Dublin High with 24 players, many returners, a couple newbies, and a whopping 11 seniors!! Needless to say, they had a lot of captains…
Along with the amazing talent that they had on the team this season, they also welcomed a new Assistant Coach to the team (Haley Jackson), started a new website for information on our program, and looked sharp in their new Away game jerseys!
Although it was a short season due to COVID-19, our players were able to pull out a couple wins and accomplish a few personal/team milestones in the process. Not only did many of our players gain new personal tumbling and stunting skills, but they also learned this season’s routines much quicker than in the past seasons, and they played more competitively against the other EBAL teams than in the past seasons.
Unfortunately, Dublin had to forfeit the first game of the season on February 21st against Dougherty Valley High School. Since many of our players are also on the Competition Cheer team, we had an insufficient number of players to play this game due to their Nationals being that weekend. The Stunt team prepared hard for the second game by opting for a 5 AM practice the day of the game. Although the Gaels fought hard, they lost to perennial EBAL powerhouse California high School.
After two unsettling losses, the Gaels came back strong with a 15-5 win over Carondelet High School. Not only did the girls play hard, but they also overcame much adversity during this game – changing positions up at the last minute and throwing new skills for the first time on the game day mat were only a couple of highlights from this game. This win was one that truly brought the team together and showed the girls what it means to play like a TEAM.
The following week, March 3rd, Dublin had another win by forfeit from San Ramon Valley High School (SRVHS). Since this was our first host night and SRVHS had to forfeit due to injury, Livermore High School agreed to play a nonleague game against us during our scheduled game time so that our student body could watch and support our play. We are very grateful to Livermore High School and we didn’t take that chance for granted with our best performance ever to reach another team milestone!
Just as the team was picking up their stride and gaining confidence, they suffered a narrow defeat against Granada High School on March 10th. It was, by far, the most competitive game of the season!! The Gaels were winning at halftime, and it came down to the final round of Quarter 4 that determined the winner of the game. Three points are allotted in the final round – two of those points were given to Granada and one was given to Dublin – rendering Granada the winners of a very competitive and hard-fought battle. It was definitely the game of the night as Granada and their fans celebrated very enthusiastically that they beat Dublin….something that was taken as a great compliment to the program! It was a great game and the Gaels truly enjoyed every minute of the fast-paced, adrenaline-producing competition against a well-matched team like Granada.
Although it was a nail-biting final game against Granada, it was devastating and heart-breaking for the girls to end their season like that due to COVID-19. Even if the team’s time together was brief, it will still be remembered for the program’s growth and improvement. Of course, it was especially challenging to have the season cut short for our 11 seniors:
- Jessica Bronken
- Zenzi Carter-Chisholm
- Sammy Forshey
- Zeenat Hamsafar
- Alicia Lanning
- Riley Mendel
- Shay Spooner
- Sarah Stanley
- Ashleigh Stanton
- Kaitlyn Tolentino
Despite the disappointment, the legacy of the Senior Class of 2020 members of the Stunt team will always be remembered for founding and building the program. The future of the program is definitely bright based on the foundation they helped build. Congratulations!
