High school football games are full of excitement, nerves and spirit. When the football season begins at Richard Montgomery, students gather together and fill up the stands. 

The SGA assigns different themes to each game and the colors associated with the theme can clearly be seen throughout the bleachers. The marching band plays during halftime and features a routine from Poms. 

In the past, football games have been on Friday nights. This has given students something to look forward to at the end of a long week of school, and this has been viewed as the best time for the community to get together and support high school football teams. 

Students typically have leeway when teachers assign homework on Fridays, as they have an entire weekend to catch up and complete all school work. Students generally are not yet busy with their weekend plans and community members do not have to use any work-week time to have fun with their children. 

Senior Luke Rothmann looks forward to Friday night games. “You don’t have to worry about homework since you have the entire weekend to complete it. Everyone is also pretty crazy on Fridays, so the games are a lot more fun,” Rothmann said.

For the 2023-24 school year, football coaches altered the routine schedule and placed some games on Thursday nights due to the lack of referees. Sophomore volleyball player Emily Rogers believes strongly about this topic. “I hate it so much and I think it makes the games less fun,” Rogers said. 

Safety is the top priority for officials at all football games. Just last week, a fight erupted between BCC and WJ as students made their way to the nearest Metro to arrive back home. This fight involved the police and school administration. 

As it is likely that student turnout will decrease on Thursdays, this can increase the safety during the games as the typical crowd of students will likely not attend.“There wouldn’t be as many people so the risk of fights is less,” Rothmann said. 

The sport might also be short-staffed. “It is probably because we don’t have enough people to help out with reffing and coaching,” junior Jadon Abraham said. 

Some RM football players don’t mind the switch as much. They focus on the game rather than its fans. 

“It doesn’t really matter because I don’t really notice people that much, but I wish we could [maintain the tradition] as Friday Night Lights,” sophomore and varsity kicker Jarrett Roth said.