On Wednesday February 13th, Walpole Rebels Cheerleading took the mat for their first competition of the winter season. At the girls’ last competition, they received a bid to Nationals in Orlando, Florida. This time the girls competed against the Baystate League at Braintree High School once again.

Because of the blizzard and school closings, the Tri Valley League competition was cancelled; the teams from Hopkington, Medway and Ashland were forced to compete at Braintree on Wednesday as well for a spot at Regionals. With a last minute injury to freshman Marina DeCelle the team unfortunately had to scramble to find a replacement and re-work some of the routine with only few practices left. The girls fell short in their routine and unfortunately, it consisted of many mistakes that the team could not afford. Multiple stunt falls and an unacceptable number of tumbling busts costed the girls their goal of first place after the heartbreaking 1 point loss to Braintree at the fall season Bay States.

The Rebels became the Division 2 All Girl Champions and placed fourth place overall behind Natick (Co-ed), Braintree (Division 1), and Framingham (Division 1). The girls fell short of third place and a Baystate trophy by only one point. The Rebels scored a 74.25 and, only needing 60 points to qualify for Regionals, the girls advanced and will compete in the South Sectional Regionals on Sunday, March 3 at Whitman Hanson High School. The Rebels scored nearly 10 points higher at the fall Baystate competition back in November, which led the Rebels to feel defeated and unaccomplished, because their goal was to move from their second place finish in fall, to first in winter.

Unfortunately, this was not the case for the girls this season, but they are trying to move on from the disappointing score and are concentrating on the Regional competition next week. with athletes now returning from injuries, the feelings of redemption are in the air.