Pumped-up Mattawan
dominates

Wildcats
turn attention to winning SMAC title

GREATER
KALAMAZOO COMPETITIVE CHEER

Jon Schultz, February 07, 2009

Otsego’s team performs a front flip during the Greater
Kalamazoo Competitive Cheer Meet Saturday morning at Mattawan High School. Otsego placed
second behind Mattawan with 709.813 points. - (John A. Lacko
/ Special to the Gazette)

MATTAWAN — As the Mattawan competitive
cheer team prepared for the final routine of the Greater Kalamazoo meet in
their home gym on Saturday, they got a little surprise.

Willy the Wildcat, the school's
mascot, bounded out onto the floor, waving a giant blue and gold flag
sporting a block "M" in the middle.

"That got me so much more
pumped up. That was amazing," Mattawan junior captain Sara Brown said.
"That was a nice surprise, because I didn't know that was going to
happen."

The Wildcats went on to take home
the title, posting a season-high point total of 750.585 (221.6, 226.785,
302.2), with no opponent coming close to challenging them for the top spot in
the nine-team event.

Otsego placed second with 709.813
points (212.6, 202.813, 294.4), and Portage Northern took third with 697.017
points (202.5, 204.117, 290.4).

Mattawan coach Nichole Cerruti wasn't kidding when she said her team has
supportive parents. Along with one of them donning the Wildcat suit, another parent
slipped into a banana outfit and started dancing in front of the stands,
playing off a tradition that started in youth cheer clinic.

"That's actually a first time
with the mascot," Mattawan Cerruti said.
"He comes out to all the football and basketball games and so this year
we really want to keep promoting our sport and keep our parents
involved."

But while the atmosphere may have
been light, the Wildcats have taken on a serious mind set ever since a
disappointing third-place finish in the Southwestern Michigan Athletic
Conference meet two weeks ago, Brown said.

With the final SMAC meet next
Wednesday, the Wildcats will have to turn in another spot-on performance to
take home the conference title.

"I would like to see their
scores more consistent in every competition, because sometimes they have a
good competition, sometimes they have a bad one," Cerutti
said. "This is definitely a good one for them, they were upbeat,
positive and it's always good to be at home."

A week after turning in its best performance
of the season, Otsego faced some tough obstacles in piecing together its
second-place finish. Sophomore Ashley Markley sat out after taking a hard
fall while snowboarding, and coach Nicole Durr
had to promote five girls from junior varsity.

"I don't mind, I'm not the
kind of coach that requires them to have no life. They can get hurt walking
down the street so I'm OK with it," Durr said.
"It worked out that it was just an invitational, not at conference or regionals."

P-Northern coach Heather Prentice
took the third place finish in stride, and said it had its high notes, but
she expects more.

"This is not one of our best
performances, we hit a nice round three, not a best round three but it's
getting there," Prentice said. "We build for the end of the season.
We haven't hit our best day yet."