Cheltenham pivots to a homecoming soccer game, after its football season was canceled over locker room assault
While the boys’ game will be the main homecoming event, the school will also celebrate its girls’ varsity soccer and volleyball teams, which will each play earlier that evening.
After a football assault scandal that has weighed heavily on the community, Cheltenham High School leaders hope to bring excitement and pride back to the student body with a different homecoming celebration.
This year’s festivities will center on a boys’ soccer game in the school’s new football stadium, with traditions both old and new. Cheltenham will face Academy Park on Oct. 16 at 7 p.m., with the homecoming court recognized at halftime. While the boys’ game will be the main homecoming event, the school will also celebrate its girls’ varsity soccer and volleyball teams, which will each play earlier that evening.
“Homecoming is not intended to belong to one sport,” Athletic Director Sam Sheridan wrote in an email. “It belongs to Cheltenham High School and the broader Cheltenham community.”
Homecoming last year came weeks before the football season was canceled after a player reported an assault by teammates in the locker room. Four former coaches are set to stand trial for child endangerment and conspiracy after text messages shown in court suggested they tried to hide the incident. Six players were charged.
The school year began a few weeks ago with fallout from the assault scandal still unfolding. Some kids were nervous, parent teacher association President Stephanie Curry said. But parents have worked to lift the mood — holding a community march the weekend before school started, and forming a welcome tunnel outside the doors on the first day.
Student council started planning homecoming in the spring, when students learned that Cheltenham’s football program would also be canceled this year as the district awaits investigative findings and looks to address any systemic problems the incident and its aftermath have exposed.
“We had a very unfortunate year last year,” Student Council President Safia Pendleton said. “Everybody was disappointed in each other and ourselves as a district.”
Cheltenham students turn the page
Those most affected by the canceled football season, students said, included teams who perform at football games. Canceling the season meant hours of lost time for cheerleaders, musicians, and the color guard.
Pendleton is also a captain on the varsity cheerleading squad, which faced a canceled senior night alongside the football team last year.
“The most fun game of the year, we had to [forfeit],” Pendleton said. “We had a very good season going.”
“Not having a football team kind of sucks,” said Freddy Torres, a varsity soccer team captain, who added that he’s looking forward to playing at homecoming.
Student council got pushback from some students on the soccer plan, Pendleton said, but she still expects a large turnout.
Other homecoming mainstays will remain at Cheltenham, including cheerleaders, pep band, drumline, and color guard. The school is also adding what leaders say could become a new tradition: a staff versus students flag football game before the soccer match.
Cheltenham isn’t alone in swapping cleats for boots this year: Jenkintown built homecoming around the coed varsity soccer team’s Oct. 3 game after it canceled the rest of its football season over low participation.
New stadium for Cheltenham
Cheltenham debuted its $13.4 million stadium this summer. As news of the assaults broke last year, some residents questioned whether the two-year project was worth it, without a football team to play on the turf.
But school board directors and staff have emphasized that it is used for other sports, too, including soccer, field hockey, and track.
“Our old grass fields were rugged,” said Jackson Scott, a soccer team captain. “We’ve had a lot more fans [in the stadium] and it’s a lot more fun.”
Though Cheltenham teams have played on the new stadium field since August, the school will hold an official ribbon-cutting in the afternoon before other homecoming festivities.
“The atmosphere is definitely different, but everyone is trying to make it the best it can be,” Pendleton said. “No matter what comes our way, Cheltenham will still be great.”
Inquirer Greater Abington
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
