Wake County knows the Leesville student section for being high energy, so when Grayson Trout went to her Senior Homecoming Game, she expected to have a good time in the stands.
She and a few friends left the tailgate and showed up to the stadium almost an hour early to find good seats. Despite her attempt, other students pushed her out of the way and off of the bleachers before the game even began.
“When my friends and I first got there, it wasn’t very full, and there was a lot of empty space to fill,” said Trout. “When more people started arriving, the crowd became a lot more packed in a very short amount of time. There wasn’t much space to move around.”
Cassidy Farrell, a senior, had a similar experience in the stands, noting that the student section was uncomfortably tight and rowdy even before the game started.
“There was a lot of pushing. Whether it was intentional, or people were just struggling to stand on the stands themselves during the games there was just a lot of back and forth, it was like the leesville roller coaster on steroids but not fun or on purpose, there were a lot of elbows being thrown around I got elbowed in the face at least once,” said Farrell.
As the stands crowded and the shoving continued, piles of students fell on top of each other and into the bleachers.
In addition to the pushing, students could be seen yelling at both each other and into the crowd.
Seniors attempting to push underclassmen out of the way shouted “Freshman get back,” using intimidation to move those who were reluctant to give up their seats. Other students, seemingly under the influence, yelled lewd phrases, shouting “Underclassmen can fin*er me” into the student section before the game began.
Hi! My name is Lauren! I’m President of the LRHS book club. Outside of school I’m a curler for Team Taylor and I like to rollerblade.