Game Day Dynasty: Seniors help lead B-P winter cheer to fourth state title in three years
While Taunton baseball and softball have gotten the headlines, another high school sports dynasty has been on the rise in the Silver City.
The Bristol-Plymouth cheerleading squad took home the 2024 MSAA Game Day Winter State Championship on March 3 at Shepherd Hill Regional High School in Dudley. The win marked the fourth MSAA Game Day state title the Craftsmen have captured in the last three years, including the 2023 MSAA Game Day Fall State Championship this past November.
"When they took the mat, they were extremely enthusiastic and energetic and they performed flawlessly," B-P coach Jessica Holst said.
B-P finished with a total of 175.9 points, 11.5 points better than runners up Leominster. The Craftsmen had each of the four judge's top individual scores of the afternoon, with the highest being a 45.4, despite initial concerns of being the first team to perform.
"The fact that they had to go first was nerve-racking for them," Holst said, noting judges sometimes hold back on scores with early performances before seeing the full level of competition. "I still didn’t know if it was going to be enough for them to win because there were a lot of really, really great teams that went after us and I was nervous."
In the end, though, the Craftsmen shined through for the title, with Holst grateful her seniors were able to end their high school cheer careers on a high note.
"These are not just really good athletes, but they’re really, really good students and kids," Holst said, noting one of her captains, Emily Rouleau, has been named the Class of 2024 valedictorian. "We just have a lot of great leadership and the underclassmen wanted to win it for the seniors, so I think that was pretty special that they were able to do that for them."
The victory caps off a successful winter for B-P, which also took home both the Mayflower Athletic Conference and the Massachusetts Vocational Athletic Directors Association (MVADA) Game Day titles.
For Holst, the accolades show just how far the Craftsmen have come since she returned to the program in 2021 following a four year stint coaching her daughter at Tri-County. At the time, the current seniors were sophomores who were yet to compete in winter cheer due to B-P and the majority of the Mayflower Athletic Conference cancelling the 2020-21 winter season. Add in that they were coming in from different programs with different styles among the voc-tech's seven sending communities and Holst had her hands full.
But, she says, she couldn't have asked to lead a better group of athletes.
"These seniors, even when they were sophomores, they had that little bit of leadership in them already," Holst said. "Some athletes don’t want to grow or learn and go ‘this is the way I do it,’ but that’s not the way these kids were at all. These kids were like ‘show us how to do it’ and ‘show us how to be better,’ ‘what would make us better as a team?,’ and so for them, and for me to see such growth in them, it was huge."
It's a work ethic that has carried over to the underclassmen, and one which should continue to see the Craftsmen continue to be a force in Massachusetts high school cheerleading for years to come.
Taunton Daily Gazette sports reporter Cameron Merritt can be reached at cmerritt@tauntongazette.com. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @CamMerritt_News. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to the Taunton Daily Gazette today.
This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: 'Performed flawlessy:' B-P cheer wins fourth MSAA title in three years
