Next Saturday, three Okmulgee County cheer teams will be competing at Game Day Regionals at Stroud High School.

Preston, Henryetta and Beggs will all be vying for a spot at the State Competition November 14.

Preston will be competing in Class 2A against 31 other teams and will cheer at 12:50.

Beggs and Henryetta will be in Class 3A against 19 other teams.

Beggs will cheer at 2:40 p.m. and Henryetta will compete at 3:35.

The top 15 teams will qualify for the State Competition.

Game Day Cheer Coach Amy J. Cassell issued the following statement about the competition:

“I appreciate your patience as we navigate the safest way to provide the opportunity to compete in the Game Day Regional competition. After much research and deliberation, we have made the decision to alter the way we structure the Game Day Regional competition. This decision was not made lightly but was most definitely made in the best interest of the participants, coaches, and spectators.”

The competition is Prelims only, teams will have a specified check-in time; stretching time; warm up time, and performance time. They will perform all three elements during the performance time. The order will be Band Dance, Crowd Leading, and Fight Song. After performing the Band Dance, teams will be given three 8-counts prior to beginning the next element, Crowd Leading. They should designate someone to speak the 8 counts out loud to avoid confusion, (counts may be spoken by the coach or a designated participant). Once teams perform the second element, they will be given another three 8 counts to prepare for the last element, Fight Song.

Once they have performed, teams may leave the facility and come back at the end to hear the announcement of the qualifiers for Game Day State or remain at the site in the stands.

Site-specific information, such as bus parking, when the gates open, etc. will be provided by the competition sites. Site-specific questions should be addressed to the site, and Cassell said they are happy to answer competition information at the OSSAA.

Ticket prices for Game Day regionals are $7.00 for students and adults. The ticket is good for all-day of the Regional Competition.

Floor passes will be issued at the site for 3 coaches. No additional passes will be given, no exceptions.

OSSAA will have a State Championship program for Game Day, and teams need to send a picture and a roster to programs@vype.com no later than November 7, 2020.

SCORES AND RANKINGS

1. In the preliminary rounds, each team will be scored by judges in each of the three categories.

2. Preliminary round scores will be calculated and the top 15 scores in Classes 2A, 3A, 4A and 5A will advance to the State Competition. In Class 6A, the top 10 scores will advance to the State Championship.

3. The judges will score teams using the criteria listed on the OSSAA Game Day State Championship score sheet. Sample score sheets can be found on the Cheer page of OSSAA.com.

4. All scores and judge’s decisions are considered final.