Prom this year is on May 14 at the Marriot in Cranberry; those details are set in stone. However, the time and entertainment are still uncertain. For years the prom has run from until 5 in the morning; this year might change all that.

Rumors have spread throughout the school that prom may only be until eleven-thirty, and without any entertainment. The lack of fundraising is the source of this major change. With little fundraising from the junior class and Mr. Rosa‟s food cart on probation, we are suffering from a major lack of cash flow.

Mr. Rosa‟s food cart is no longer allowed to sell the snacks it used to because of their unhealthy attributes. However, with prom in jeopardy, the school is rallying together for a massive wave of fundraisers.

Last year, Mr. Rosa‟s food cart was parked across from the art room every day. Selling candy, soda, and gum, this little cart pulled in the money. Due to new rules and changes, we are nor allowed to sell fatty or sugary snacks in public schools.

This is a major blow to the prom bank account. The cart may be reopening with healthier, smarter choices. Students are asked to submit a paper with any suggestions on products.

On October 25 there will be a "powder puff" football game; the cost is five dollars per player. The seniors are set to play against the juniors and the sophomores against the freshmen.

The girls will be coached by volunteers. Signups are in the office. If you have any further questions, talk to senior Stephanie Dinello.

Other fundraising attempts like painting faces at football games are already in progress. Other ideas such as Mr. FHS has also been tossed around. Nolan Rider, president of the senior class, has numerous ideas to raise money for prom.

However, nothing can be done without support from the entire school. If you have any ideas on how to raise money please suggest them to Nolan Rider or Ms Ross.

Short for promenade...

Katy Ross, Contributing Writer

FHS crowns its King and Queen Shannon Schimmer, News Editor the crown was passed from former-

king Steve McFee to Bates. Once again everyone held their breath as the second drum roll began for the 2009 Homecoming Queen: Sara Murphy.

An excited Murphy accepted her crown and the applause from the stands. Freedom has pulled off another successful homecoming game with a satisfied school and a worthy King and Queen.

With the autumn rain misting

down, the sun setting behind a wall of grey clouds, the Freedom football team is warming up on the field like every other Friday night.

However, October 2, 2009 is somewhat different then every other Friday night. Twenty students are gathered on the other side of the field with the band, waiting for their name to be called. Small town royalty, one word: homecoming court.

After the entire school had the chance to vote for three girls and three boys from the senior class, and 20 students had the most votes, 10 boys and 10 girls were chosen.

The couples walked down the field in front of an anticipating crowd, as Kellie Mercier and Nolan Rider announced the names from the press box. Each couple got their moment of recognition before they all stood before the crowd; drum roll began for the 2009 Homecoming King: Ben Bates.

Cheers and clapping erupted as

Boys:

Ben Bates

Joe Ermi

Joe Fubio

Jeremy Herzog

Clint Jenny

Luke Mesing

Dan O’Leary

Shane Quinn

Chris Rooney

Adam Teets

Freedom‟s 2009

Homecoming Court

Girls:

Heather Busse

Ashley Casey

Chelsea Costello

Stephanie Dinello

Becca Fleming

Mackenzie Kemerer

Sara Murphy

Marissa Ritorto

Alyssa Schell

Lauren Szpak

Homecoming King:

Ben Bates

Homecoming Queen:

Sara Murphy

Probably because it was

Spirit Week. That might

explain why a chicken-

suited Justin Baumiller

high-fived Dr. Staub, or

why sophomore Lexie

Crossland dressed like a

confused leopard. Crazy

Day also caused Ms.

Cloutier to sport the

entire color spectrum on

her sleeves alone.

Throughout the rest of

the week, students

dressed in formal wear,

sports jerseys, a favorite

decade, or Freedom‟s

school colors.

Photo by Rosalyn Nye, Staff Photographer

Fund-raising shortfalls mean prom might end early

Photos by Jessica Rosenkranz,

Photo Editor

Photo by Ashlynd Robb, Staff Photographer

Photo by Rosalyn Nye, Assistant Yearbook Editor

FHS Press 16 October, 2009 2

FHSP Correction:

In the September issue, FHS Press incor-

rectly reported on Ms. Gudzan‟s travels to

Spanish-speaking countries. Ms. Gudzan

traveled to Costa Rica during college, and

visited Spain both as a student at Freedom,

and later as a chaperone on an FHS trip

there.

FHS Press regrets the error.

The return of the activity period…sorta

Here at Freedom, we will be incorporating a new activity period. Before, we had to have club meetings before school that started from approximately 7:25a.m.-7:50a.m.

The problem with this is that some students don‟t get to school until almost 7:40. Because of this, clubs met after school.

However, some students cannot stay after; they may not have a ride home. Before we had block scheduling, Freedom had an activity period every Tuesday and Thursday morning. Those were for half an hour at the start of the school day. Dr. Staub recalls that “there were too many kids in the hallways and it was complete chaos.”

Dr. Staub thinks that activity times are important and that our clubs should have a scheduled time they can meet. Our new system will usually be two days a week. The week before, any teacher can schedule a club meeting for the following week.

Dr. Staub will look at the list of

Robert Deane, Staff Writer

clubs and schedule them accordingly. If there are two clubs that have a lot of the same members, those clubs will not be scheduled on the same day. If there are only a few clubs that want to meet, there may only be one day for club

meetings that week. If there are two days for meetings, one will be a Red Day and one will be a White Day. The activity periods will take place after D-TV and last about 20 minutes. If a student has no club meeting to go to then he or she must remain in their

first block classroom. Each block that day will lose a few

minutes and the passing time will be cut by a minute or two. Dr. Staub thinks that this system will be more successful than the systems we have had in the past.

He believes it will be successful because “there is a lot more structure with the new timing and the club rosters.”

Pep and Drama Club work to make the school

scarier than it already is

While the students of FHS bustle through the crowded halls during the comforts of daytime, does anyone think about what becomes of our school at night? This Halloween, the drama club and pep club have turned our home of education into a home of ghosts and goblins.

Planning and construction has already begun to transform the halls of the building into a chilling haunted house, giving everyone a chance to get a good scare, and the drama/pep club to earn a quick buck!Anyone who dares enter the haunted halls of Freedom on the nights of October 30 and 31 would be in for a terrifying tour throughout part of the first floor, ending with a "thrilling" performance, all while snacks and drinks are provided in the lobby.

The first night, October 30, the haunted school will open at 10p.m. after the final football game and will run until midnight. The second and final night, on Hallow's Eve, the scare will begin at 7p.m. and will run for five hours straight, until midnight.

Mr. Keith Kavolic is the teacher in charge of designing, supervising, and running the haunted school, with over one

hundred students collaborating with him in order to put the plan into action.

Every Wednesday, both the drama club and pep club meet to build imaginative sets and frightening props to make the haunted school as realistic as possible. "We are currently brainstorming for what will be in the school. We do have most of our ideas, though." Emily Hilliard, one student in charge of creating the house. The ideas and sets are growing throughout the month of October. There are plenty of haunted houses and trails throughout Beaver County that many students will be sure to visit this fall, but if you‟re looking for something a little more close to home but equally chilling, FHS will be haunted with good fun this Halloween weekend.

Shannon Schimmer, News Editor

One week before twenty of the world‟s most influential leaders arrived in Pittsburgh, Freedom students had the opportunity to participate in the G-20 Student Summit. Students heard from three speakers and then had the opportunity to speak live with kids in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Coordinated by Fox Chapel and the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh, the September seventeenth mock summit involved 2,200 kids worldwide. Twenty-eight Freedom students participated from the library via poly-com and a flat screen television.

On the morning of the student summit, Fox Chapel sent out e-mails alerting the schools that there was a problem with the video feed. This prevented all schools that were connected to Fox Chapel by webcam (including Freedom) from being able to view any of the events.

“I really wanted to see the speakers, because I couldn‟t focus on what they were saying,” says sophomore Nikki Wallace.

One of the speakers, Steven Clemons, discussed the issues that the G-20 will address, such as CEO salaries and bonuses, how to improve financial markets, and the move to

increase the voice and voting of the developing world. He also mentioned that the G-20 agenda was not critical.

Ms. Ionta, the Freedom World Affair's Club staff advisor, noted that, “the wheels of change move very slowly. There are lots of difficult problems to solve, but that doesn‟t mean we shouldn‟t try. Any time heads of government get together to talk, it‟s good; it fosters understanding.”

After the speeches, students had the opportunity to submit questions to the three speakers. Jake Niedergall‟s question, regarding the ability of the G-20 to affect policy, was selected.

Dr. Juan Delgado, one of the speakers and an expert on foreign policy, answered by saying that “we are spending a lot of money, but are not getting a lot of results. However, the G-20 does have the power of persuasion.”

Following the question-and-answer period, Freedom was connected to a school in Brazil.

The conversation centered on the economic, environmental, and energy problems that Brazil is encountering. The majority of participants agreed with sophomore

Rosalyn Nye, Staff Writer

Jake Potts‟ impression: “My favorite part was meeting with the kids from Brazil. They laughed at everything.»

After the talk with the students in Brazil, the student summit was concluded with a discussion of the day‟s events and a pizza lunch for all participants.

Ms. Ionta leads students in the library as they talk with students from Brazil in a G-20 Student Summit.

G20 Summit: Freedom gets involved

“...there is a lot more structure

with the new timing…”

Rosalyn Nye, Staff Photographer

Prom is probably one of the biggest events during the school year for upperclassmen. Well, what if prom was only until 11p.m.? Would anyone go?

Some students say that they wouldn‟t, because it's not worth it to waste all that money on expensive tickets and a girl's prom dress or a guy's tux that you only where for a few hours anyway.

Would you rather pay all that money on tickets and go to the prom until 5a.m. or spend less money on tickets and only go to prom until 11? Either way it‟s a hard deci-sion.

To have the perfect prom to end your year, it takes fundraising. That‟s what makes it your prom: you fund-raise.

Money goes into the hotel where the prom is held, the grand march, the entertainment, the food, and so on and so forth.

So what is there to do if you don‟t want to attend prom? Some peo-

Editor-in-Chief:

Business Manager:

News Editor:

Opinions Editor:

A&E Editor:

Sports Editor:

Photography Editor:

Copy Editor:

Design Editor:

Faculty Adviser:

Editorial Policies: FHS Press is the official student newspaper serving Freedom Area High School, in Freedom,

Pennsylvania. The views presented herein are not representative of the school, faculty, or administration; they are

solely the views of individual student writers. The newspaper accepts and strives to publish signed letters to the editor

under 250 words. To submit comments, press releases, or letters to the editor, or to purchase advertising space

in the paper, e-mail newspaper@freedomarea.org, or contact Mr. Hartman in Room 114.

Meagen Finnerty

Rob Deane

Shannon Schimmer

Marques Muron

Nolan Rider

Bryan McSorley

Jessica Rosenkranz

Emily Francis

Karla Knauff

Mr. David Hartman

FHS Press — Editorial Board

STAFF EDITORIAL:

Assistant Editors: Jake Cruise, Cole Leonberg, & Sophia Rosati

Reporters & Photographers: Alahna Alderette, Alyssa Applequist, Brandi

Eaton, Rosalyn Nye, & Ashlynd Robb

It was “our now” last year… how long will our now be this year?

ple came up with ideas to just have a party, or get all dressed up with a bunch of your friends and go out to dinner.

Staying up all night with your friends and going out to dinner is all good but you can do that any time you want.

Prom is supposed to be something special, the time of your life, the big sha-bang to end the school year. You‟re with your friends having fun, all dressed up, dancing, watching enter-tainment, and taking pic-tures for the duration of the night. It sounds like a magi-cal time. Wouldn‟t you want to have something special like that?

To have it you must fundraise, and there are many ways to do so this year.

You can attend the Mr. FHS con-test, Battle of the bands, Xbox tourna-ment, and the Dodge ball tournament. If you want to have the prom of your dreams this is the way to do it.

Help raise money for prom. If not, you will either end up paying a lot for your tickets or the prom will be short-ened: the call is yours.

Admit it: we‟ve all, at one point or another, been the kid hiding our phones under the desk, in a purse or in a pocket in order to answer a text message.

A good majority of students just might sell their souls in exchange for their phones. Here at Freedom, teachers are, for the most part, lenient with cell phones.

We can usually have them out when we are working independently or have down time once all of our work is done. At Ambridge, though, things are different.

This year, cell phones at Ambridge are banned. Imagine being suspended because you felt the need to pull out your cell phone.

Of course, every student would use the trusty old “I was texting my parents” excuse. Honestly though, how often do high school students really text their mothers?

I can‟t imagine Freedom ever ban-ning cell phones. It seems as though that

is one battle that just really isn‟t worth fighting. Personally, I know I never leave my house without my phone. I would imagine ninety nine percent of my school is the same way. How would the school successfully collect every phone entering through the doors every morning?

Yes, students are going to continu-ally sneak texts in class. Teachers every-where should take the approach of keep-ing students too busy to even think about texting than giving us time to be bored enough to.

This may seem too simple, but I know that in some of my classes, no one has time to worry about their phones be-cause we are kept busy.

Ambridge is going to have its hands full with dealing with every student‟s cell phone every day.

Banning cell phones really just is not worth the time or effort it will take to continually enforce that; there have to be other things that need taken care of be-sides something that trivial.

AMBRIDGE GOES OVERBOARD

“Prom is

supposed to be

something

special, the time

of your life,

the big

sha-bang…”

Meagen Finnerty, Editor-in-Chief

Confiscating cell phones till the end of the year?

They should have more important things to worry about

FHS Press 16 October, 2009 4

I pledge allegiance...

It‟s morning. Everyone‟s still wak-ing up, even after 80 minutes of first block.

D-TV comes on, and that patriotic screen showing the words to the Pledge of Allegiance appears.

Everyone stands, just like we‟ve done for the past twelve years. Every-one blandly recites the same words we've been reciting since kindergarten.

We do this every day without really thinking about it; but do we actu-ally understand the meaning behind what we are saying?

Reciting the Pledge has basically become meaningless after eleven or twelve years of doing so.

People have even started to joke

around during the pledge, making faces or chatting to their friends.

I get it: it‟s early, and no one feels like standing up for a minute saying something “stupid.”

For once, stop and think about what you are really saying.

Look at the words of the Pledge. Everyone knows them, but does any-one ever take them to heart?

The Pledge is a reminder of how this country came to be, of who we are. It stresses the unity of our nation, the common bond that we all possess as Americans. It shows that we all act as one.

I‟m making it my goal to find some personal meaning in the Pledge by the end of the year.

I think everyone should follow suit; finding something bigger in some of those words could make a difference in your attitude towards our nation in general.

Respect for our country can be-gin with respect for its Pledge of Alle-giance.

So don‟t mess around tomorrow morning: stop and think about what you‟re saying.

Always gonna be an uphill battle

Most people have probably no-ticed the Extreme Makeover: Newspa-per Edition that has been taking place over the last few years. The paper has turned from an after school club to a class, from a luxury to a requirement. This definitely does not make us per-fect, though.

Everything we publish is some-one‟s homework assignment. It is very important for everyone on the FHSP staff to do a perfect job with every-thing they contribute, as it is published. But sometimes that doesn‟t happen.

We all make mistakes on home-work; it‟s a learning experience. The difference here is that we publish our work for the whole school to read and critique.

Teachers, in my opinion, should be the most understanding of any mis-takes. Can any of you honestly say every piece of work students hand in has no mistakes at all? I highly doubt that.

Students, keeping on the same stream of thought, have you never made a mistake before? Being the real-ist that I am, I also doubt that. We all

make mistakes, as much as we try to avoid that.

Yes, every person in Print Media Workshop took on a challenge by taking this class. Every mistake that slips through their eyes, the section editors‟ eyes, the copy editor‟s eyes, and my eyes is printed and distributed to faculty and students alike.

This year, we are hoping to continue the long, uphill adventure towards the unattainable goal of a perfect paper. If you have anything you want to see in the FHS Press, or you have something to say about something that was printed, feel free to contact us. We love feedback; it helps us improve.

This year, I hope for great things to continue happening with the paper. After all, FHSP is one of the few outlets stu-dents have to voice their opinions and inform the entire school, monthly, of what we as students think is important.

As the Editor-in-Chief of FHS Press, I am very excited to be a part of the evolution of the paper. I hope that you all (teachers, students, faculty, etc) can enjoy the paper and somehow get involved. It‟s not about perfection, and channeling my inner-Miley Cyrus, it‟s

more clubs in the high school than there was in the middle school. So for the active clubbers, such as myself, these new activity periods are more than likely going to come in handy.

Now what if you‟re somebody who really doesn‟t participate in any clubs? It‟s alright; I for one was more into sports and just plain going home than going to some club after school before.

It's okay though; the activity peri-ods can still be beneficial. It gives ex-tra time to do homework, work on pro-jects, or see teachers.

One small problem with these activity periods is that it gives some students, who aren‟t in clubs, the idea that they can just roam the halls. This time is not for roaming the halls- so don‟t do it.

My final call about whether ac-tivity periods are good or bad is that they are a very good idea.

They provide more time for us students to participate in clubs, and gives more time after school for other activities. So for any student not in a club, I recommend joining one; they add to the high school experience!

It‟s time for FHS students to get active! Brand new to the high school this year is the inclusion of activity peri-ods after the first block every either Tuesday and Wednesday, or Wednes-day and Thursday, starting with a Red Day.

These activity periods are designed to let students participate in clubs or just stay in their first block and work on homework or any other work.

These short blocks come in handy because it now gives students more time after school for other things, such as sports or working at a job.

They also provide more time for clubs to get together than in previous years. For instance, the Art Club used to only meet after school every Tuesday, but now they can meet then, and during activity periods.

Now whenever I heard about these activity periods, I immediately thought about being back in middle school, where it seemed like I wasted my life away sitting in homeroom doing noth-ing. So is it any different this time? Per-sonally, I think so.

The new activity periods are only 20 minutes long, and there are definitely

Activity periods: use them! Can you escape?

“Look at the words of the Pledge.

Everyone knows them, but does any-one ever take them

to heart?”

Liz Brunner, Staff Writer

Meagen Finnerty, Editor-in-Chief

Jake Cruise, Asst. Opinions Editor

Learning on the job at FHS Press

October 2009: The only time of year that it‟s ok to take candy from strangers

HOT: Horror flicks - Peanut M&Ms NOT:

It’s that time of year when the leaves are changing, and you don’t want to get out of bed in the mornings anymore because it’s just so cold outside. These are the first signs that Halloween is fast approaching and along with it, a bushel of extremely scary or ex-tremely cheesy horror movies.

Of course this time of the year also marks the release of yet another Halloween Movie. Halloween II was released August 28, but some theatres are re-releasing it to the big screen in time for the holiday season. I would recommend just catching this one in HBO if I were you. Michael Myers should probably just die already. I think that this movie has been remade a few too many times, with not many changes to the plot. It’s time to let this one go, people.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, they have made another Saw movie. I guess that we just can’t get enough blood and gore. Saw VI is just another film in a long line of possibly the most successful horror movie series

fore, Zombieland, is putting a humorous spin on a zombie apocalypse. This movie will either be very original in its approach, or it may be just remaking the famous Shaun of the Dead. With a memorable cast and a humorous plot, this movie has the potential to a have a cult following; or it could just be another movie that you catch playing on Comedy Central everyday.

Cirque Du Freak is finally being made into a movie. I have waited to see this story hit the big screen for years. This series is the male answer to Twilight. You will never believe who is playing the dark, mysterious Mr. Crepsley; none other than John C. Reily.

That’s right folks, Will Farrell’s bes-tie is going from a 40-year-old man living with his mom, to a professional racecar driver, to a vampire. And the transition is beautiful. If the movie can even slightly

compare with the books, I will be going to see this one several

times in theatres.

ever made. The latest Saw promises as much blood and gore as it’s predecessors. I’m sure that this movie will not be for the squeamish or faint of heart if it is anything like the rest.

Megan Fox: enough said. Jennifer’s Body was an amazing film that I believe never went out of the way to take itself seriously. It reminded me of the horror films of old. I had flashbacks of Bruce Campbell fighting off skele-ton warriors and witches with a chainsaw fas-tened to his stump. This movie had a good plot, with many B and C list actors.

I did love the story behind the release of the demon into Megan Fox’s character. Jennifer is sacrificed to the devil by an up-and-coming band Low Shoulder in an attempt to gain fame. This plan goes horribly awry when instead of be-ing pleased, the demon inhabits Jennifer’s body and feasts on the town’s teens. It was a clever plot, and left me both creeped out and amused.

Oh, and did I mention it had Megan Fox in it?

Although it’s been done be-

Halloweeney Horror Nolan Rider, A&E Editor

Broken vending machines - seal clubbing

FHS Press 16 October, 2009 6

Judy Green screamed profanity, enter-

ing stage left as her flirty, promiscuous charac-

ter, Lucille, in The Bobcat Player's performance

of The Cemetery Club. Walking into the small

144 seat theatre at Beaver Area High School,

an audience member could see the simple liv-

ing room set on the same level as the first row,

and might wonder how this play was going to

keep him or her engrossed. This small cast,

including our own Ms. Ross, kept the audience

laughing and crying for the whole two and a

half hours.

The story of The Cemetery Club follows

three 50-something-year-old widows, who ei-

ther cannot seem to move on, or move on too

quickly. Inevitably, the stable-minded Ms. Ross

plays the most sensible of the three women,

who decides to find someone who makes her

character, Ida, happy. However, along with

mastering a Jewish New York dialect, Ms. Ross

says that having never been married, feeling a

widow's loss was the hardest part of getting

into her character.0

Keith Zagorski and Pat Depenhart did an

excellent job of directing and producing the

play, as well as casting the five characters. The

close-knit cast had only six weeks to get ready

for the show; however, the each felt well pre-

pared for opening night on September 25. Af-

ter five shows in the Ed Schaughency Theatre,

two of which were sold out, The Cemetery Club

was proven a hit with the audience. Although

designed for a more mature audience, both

men and women enjoyed the show the whole

way through.

"I got nervous when I saw you sitting in

The Cemetery Club Our very own Ms. Ross struts her stuff on stage,

playing a sensible widow named Ida.

Concerts coming to the „burgh 11/22 Toby Mac/Relient K Mellon Arena A softcore night with hardcore fans.

10/24 Attack Attack, I Set My Friends On Fire,

Miss May I, Our Last Night, The Color Mo-

rale

Mr. Smalls I night of debauchery and madness at the in-

famous Mr. Smalls.

10/30 Senses Fail with special guests A Skylit

Drive, Closure in Moscow, Fact

Mr. Smalls Screamo, emo, punk, all in one building. Oh

the madness!

10/18 The Misfits Altar Bar Hardcore, stripped down, in your face, punk.

10/23 Braid Paisley Bryce Jordan Center Pack up your fishin‟ poles and hop in the

back of your pick „em up trucks. Brad Pais-

ley‟s comin to the „burgh

11/04 The All American Rejects/ Taking Back

Sunday

WVU Coliseum All American Rejects: enough said.

11/04 Ok Go Mr. Smalls Ahh, Here it Goes Again! Treadmills any-

one?

11/05 Miley Cyrus Bryce Jordan Center Is she Miley Cyrus or Hannah Montana?

Does she even know?

Local shows 10/18 Venable, The Contortionist, What’s Left

Of Her, Blue Violet Local hardcore that rattles the entire building.

10/24 Energy, the Wonder Years Blue Violet Scene kids rejoice!

the front row," said Ms. Ross right after closing

night. Although this theater teacher and ex-

perienced actress has performed in countless

programs, every show gets to her nerves. "I

always forget my lines right before I go on, and

then everything kicks in as soon as I walk out

on stage."

The Bobcat Players have been perform-

ing about three shows a year since the theater

group began in 2001. Although The Cemetery

Club was a comedy, I would recommend going

to see any of their upcoming shows, regardless

of the genre. Ms. Ross was an excellent addition

to the cast of this particular show, and I would

hope to see her continue to perform after her

retirement this year.

Alyssa Applequist, Staff Writer

Another fall at Freedom means another season of girl‟s soccer. This year the girl‟s soccer team is 4 and 9 overall, and their section record is 3-6. The team only has one senior, but they do have a lot of juniors. The captains this year are junior Lauren Reese and senior Holly Donaldson. This year‟s team has a lot of underclassmen, so there is promise for next year, and the future beyond that looks bright as well.

One surprise player is freshmen Brittney Mavrich. She has been one of the star goal scorers this season. The Bulldogs are playing hard and hav-ing a respectable season. When asked about the sea-son thus far, Caitlin Frain said, “this season is sort of going the way I expected, but I believe that we could be doing better.”

The girl‟s soccer team has been a powerhouse in their section the last few seasons. Although this year is not going exactly the way they wanted, they are still working hard and having fun. As stated be-fore, the Bulldogs only have one senior this school year, and it is very hard to win without the leadership that upperclassmen can provide. With that being said, it has opened the window for a lot of underclassmen, freshmen especially.

The younger players have had to step in and play a significant role right away. They have done well so far and have been getting better as the year has gone on. With the underclassmen maturing quickly and the return of some upperclassmen next year, the Bulldogs should be a threat to win their sec-tion in years to come.

Moving Forward Rob Deane

Business Manager

Very rarely does a sports team come together and dominate right from the start. It often takes time and effort for a team to get in sync with each other. The boys‟ soccer team has come together like never before and has taken control of Section 1 A.

Freedom was undefeated in their first turn in the section, including shutouts against preseason favor-ites Quaker Valley and Beaver County Christian. After eleven games, the only dents in the bulldog‟s armor this season is a non-section loss to AAA power West Alle-gheny and a tie against Carlynton.

With the undefeated record in section play, Freedom has a chance to claim their first section title in soccer in fourteen long years. Midfielder Luke Mesing had this to say on the bulldog‟s section title chances: “We are ready to take the section. We‟ve been working long and hard to reach this goal and now that it‟s possi-ble the team's working even harder.”

A big reason that Freedom is in the position it‟s in is because of the strength of the team as whole. Both the offense and defense are superb. Luke Mesing, Eric Gabrich, and Seth Shidemantle are the leading

scorers on offense. Mesing leads with nine goals through eleven games; Gabrich and Shidemantle have each added six.

The defense is just as good, if not better than the bulldog‟s potent offense. Because of sweeper Tanner Mesing and freshman goalie An-thony Kosis, it is hard to score on Freedom. Kosis has put up a handful of shutouts already this season and Mesing‟s and the other defenders‟ ball hawking abilities make it hard for teams to get shots off.

Tanner Mesing on the defense: “We know that the point of soccer is to score more goals than the other team. If we put up a zero and only score one we still win, so we‟re trying to have shutouts every game.”

The Bulldogs clinched a playoff a playoff birth on October 6th with their one to nothing victory over BCCS. All that is left for the team, is their ulti-mate goal of winning a section title.

If Freedom continues to fight and work hard towards its goal, anything is possible. The bulldog‟s have a sense of confidence and swagger only seen in championship teams. This could be the year that boys‟ soccer puts another number up on the banner.

So close you can taste it

Bryan McSorley Sports Editor

Franzee Barlamas (24) jumps over a BCCS player while heading a ball. Freedom won the game 1-0.

Lauren Reese battles for possession against Beaver.

Photo by Joleen Mesing

Girls’ Soccer:

FHS Press 16 October, 2009 8

Jocks who rock

Grade: 11

Sport(s): Caitlin Frain is a member of the soccer,

basketball, track, and softball teams.

Position(s): She plays outside mid-fielder for the

soccer team. In basketball she is a point

guard. For track, 100 meter hurdles, 300 meter

hurdles, the 4 by 4 and the 4 by 1.

Why does she play: She plays because she grew

up playing sports, it's been part of her whole life,

and it's fun.

Her favorite coach: "John Morhbacher makes us

work hard, but in a fun atmosphere."

Her favorite professional athlete: She doesn't

have a favorite athlete, but likes Michael Jordan;

“he has an awesome number, 23.”

Her favorite memory of high school athletics: Caitlin has two favorite memories: the first was

when the 2007 Girl's Soccer team winning sec-

tion, and the second was the 2009 Girl's Track

team winning the WPIAL championship.

Grade: 10

Sport(s): Kyeem Moon is a member of the foot-

ball, basketball, and track team.

Position(s): Kyeem plays offensive guard and de-

fensive tackle for the football team. He also is a

center for the basketball team. For the track team

he throws shot put and discus.

Why does he play: Kyeem‟s reason for taking part

in high school athletics is, "To keep myself in

shape and keep myself busy."

His favorite coach: Kyeem's favorite coach is

Coach Tony, an assistant football coach, because

"he's so miserable and it's funny."

His favorite professional athlete: Kyeem's favor-

ite athlete is none other than Cleveland Cavaliers

great, Lebron James.

His favorite memory of high school athletics: Kyeem recalls his favorite memory of high school

athletics to this point as: "Going to WPIALS last

year for track and chilling with Ben Bates all day."

Grade: 10

Sport(s): Carolyn Jenny plays basketball, vol-

leyball, and is going to join the track team this

spring

Position(s): Carolyn plays outside hitter for the

volleyball team. She also plays post for basket-

ball.

Why does she play: Carolyn says she plays

sports because she just likes being physical.

Her favorite coach: Carolyn's favorite coach of

all time is her volleyball coach, Brittany Morrow

because she's a lot like Carolyn.

Her favorite professional athlete: Her favorite

professional athlete is Pittsburgh Steelers wide

receiver, Hines Ward.

Her favorite memory of high school athletics: Carolyn's favorite high school sports memory is

getting a concussion on the last point of a vol-

leyball game by hitting her head off the bleach-

ers.

The class of 2010 football players include Ben Bates, Joe Ermi, Evan Rosenkranz, Scott Freeman, Adam Teets, Zach Burns, Ryan Heckman, Tyler Helch, Jeremy Herzog, Matt Piccinini, Clint Jenny, Larry Kosis and Tanner Mesing. A large handful of these seniors have been dedicated to Freedom‟s foot-ball team for close to 12 years. They'll be missed as star entertainers of this year and numerous years prior. Although these young men take an enormous chunk out of the team, a hefty 14 freshman were in-troduced to the Freedom football teams.

Talents of these newcomers were used almost right away. Several boys such as Jonny Fiscus and Adam Shawger were given the opportunity to start in games for the varsity team.

Freshmen newcomers and returning players to watch out for include Branden Heckman, Allan-Michael Conforti, Zeke Stroupe, Kyeem Moon and many more. Come support your varsity football team on Friday nights in hopes to see even more of a turn-around. The more motivation the players receive, the higher their spirits are, and the more likely they are to go, fight, win!

Caitlin Frain

As we hit the mid-way mark of the football sea-son, the Freedom Bulldogs have now won two victo-ries, first against Ellwood City in their season opener, and then Friday against New Brighton. After suffering unfortunate loses against Beaver Falls, Beaver, Mohawk, and Center, Freedom finally tasted victory again in the 27-22 away game.

With positive reinforcement from students, par-ents, and teachers, the Bulldogs changed their luck. As proven in multiple life situations, high spirits and motivation can improve the young athletes‟ abilities and focus. The last few weeks of football are ap-proaching, adding pressure to the boys to achieve success in winning more games.

Despite the losses of both this year and previ-ous years, Freedom has a team full of extraordinarily talented guys. However, some will show the crowd their abilities, and some will crack under the pres-sure. This year, the varsity football team prepares to let go of thirteen seniors as they graduate, moving on to bigger and better things.

Football clinches a second win Jessica Rosenkranz

Photo Editor

All photos by

Jessica Rosenkranz,

Photo Editor

Kyeem Moon

Carolyn Jenny

Photo by Jessica Rosenkranz, Photo Editor

Coach Lyons and Derek Lehockey talk before a play.