Valpo Gets Pumped Up For the Homecoming Game Against Merrillville Pirates

As the Homecoming Parade marched down Lafayette Street  cheering "Let go Valpo!,"
hundreds of Viking fans showed up at Valpo's first pep rally at the new Central Park Plaza downtown Valparaiso.  What an evening!  Mayor Jon Costas, a former Valpo football player, spoke a few words to the team to encourage them to win against the Merrillville Pirates in Friday night's game. 

Valparaiso High School Student Council did an outstanding job preparing and planning for the event.  They had the Marching Band playing on stage as the parade approached the plaza.  The Vikette's and Cheerleaders joined the band in front of stage to get the crowd cheering as the football players entered the plaza.

Many different students from various groups, clubs and sports spoke to the crowd about their support for the football team.  Coach Hoffman spoke with great pride about how  hard his boys have worked and about how well they have done so far in the season.

The Homecoming Court showed up in their cool cars and were formerly introduced. 

They had a couple of fun little games for the football players.  The first game was for the senior captains.  They were blindfolded and were to guess which cheerleader kissed them on the cheek.  However, each of their moms came up and kissed them on the cheek instead of the cheerleaders.  The second game consisted of four players to come to the stage and remove their shirts.  The first player to get the wet-frozen shirt on was the winner.

The evening ended with the crowd pumped up and ready for Friday night's game which will be held at Valparaiso High School on September 30th with kick-off beginning at  7:00 pm.  At 6:45 pm, they will be retiring Jeff Samardzija's jersey.   The Homecoming Queen will be announced during halftime.  The game will be broadcasted live on Valpolife, courtesy of Region Sports Network.

 

Click here for Photos from this event!