Keep your eye on the pom-pom, because the ball’s barely moving

Cheerleaders on Black hit the final pose of a sideline cheer. (Lily Peltz / The Puma Prensa)

The football season has started, and for many that means devoting their Friday nights to catching the games. For others, the commitment runs a lot deeper, like Maria Carrillo's amazing cheer team. They have been working diligently to make sure the games have as much spirit as possible, and on September 11 at the first home football game of the 2026 season, they performed their new halftime routine, along with some of their signature sideline cheers.

The team has been putting in the work to perfect this routine, with a rigorous practice schedule that has spanned over the summer, and is now three days a week after school.

They have been working on their halftime routine since the beginning of the school year. According to two sophomore cheerleaders, Lucy Penza and Lila Ely, they’ve spent at least 9 hours on this routine alone. 

Lila Ely cheers from the front row during the JV game. (Lily Peltz / The Puma Prensa)

Performing something you’ve worked this hard on can be very nervewracking; but, it seems like the general sentiment among the cheerleaders is positive.

 “I’m excited. I’m a little bit nervous, but I think it’s gonna be really fun,” reported Penza, when asked how she was feeling about performing later that day. Ely agreed, and she also added that she believed the whole team felt good about it too.  

During the games, the cheerleaders ended up being the stars of the show, as the football players lost against Windsor in both matches. Despite this, the cheerleaders kept the energy up in the stands, and they did their best making sure the student section stayed hype–just in case the players managed to score.  

The cheerleaders are broken up into three sections, Green, Gold, and Black. Green and Gold perform together, functioning as the cheer equivalent to junior varsity, and Black is like varsity. 

There were two halftime performances, one for the Junior Varsity game with the Green and Gold, and the other during varsity with the cheerleaders from Black. 

Green and Gold had a great performance that went off smoothly until the last element, a pyramid, when one stunt group couldn’t get their flyer up properly. Black had a similar problem with the final element of their halftime performance, and only three out of the four groups could get their flyer into the stunt. While surely not how the cheerleaders had intended the halftimes to go, the crowds still loved their performance, and it was clear that everyone on the team was putting their all. 

The game is over, but the cheerleaders keep stunting for what remains of the crowds. (Lily Peltz / The Puma Prensa)

All of their sideline cheers were very well executed, and even though some of their stunting in the halftime show had imperfections, they still had a really strong performance overall. It’s very early on in the season, and there is absolutely time for the already great cheer team to get even better.