After sailing through playoffs, Dartmouth High’s football team kept the momentum alive during its Thanksgiving match against Fairhaven High School. The Indians crushed the Blue Devils, 24-0.

The warmer weather on Nov. 26 made the match muddier than the team’s last playoff game in Brockton. After a relatively quiet first quarter, Dartmouth picked up its first touchdown shortly after the second quarter began. The Indians scored again seconds before the halftime show.

Fairhaven put up a strong defense in the third quarter as they tried to push Dartmouth away from the end zone. In the fourth quarter, with a 17-point lead, Dartmouth’s Marquise Adams scored the final touchdown of the game. With four minutes remaining, Fairhaven couldn’t best their opponent.

Dartmouth’s footballers have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Not only is the team on its way to the state championship on Dec. 5, Dartmouth’s players have the support of a vast network of fellow students.

Throughout their very successful season, the Dartmouth band was there to provide musical accompaniment during key moments during games. The color guard rallied the crowd with their technical, ambidextrous performances. And the cheerleaders offered more support than simply shouting “defense” from the sidelines.

“They work hard every week to support the boys,” said Rebecca Braga, head coach for the varsity cheerleaders. “They bake them cookies and brownies before every game. Before the big game today, they all got the seniors’ addresses and made posters and decorated [the boy’s] houses.”

In addition to supporting the football team, the 13 varsity cheerleaders train for their own competitions. The group practices three or four days a week, two to three hours a day. While the team didn’t qualify for regionals this year, the girls have had a successful season at invitational matches and came in second during their league competition on Nov. 7.

Cheering competitions are highly technical affairs. The team has two and a half minutes to impress judges with its “stunting” ability (hoisting and throwing teammates in the air) and tumbling (gymnastics-like maneuvers).

“They have to be nice and sharp with their motions,” said Braga. “And there’s no going back. With football or any other sport, they get down in the score, and they can try to come back. If a stunt fails, that’s it.”

The cheerleaders will be hard at work when they return from Thanksgiving break. Not only will they have to prepare a routine for the Division III Super Bowl game, the team members will be trying out for winter cheerleading.

“We’re going to be practicing and, hopefully, getting a good routine to show,” said cheer captain Tarah Bourgeois. “We definitely want to give a good performance.”

The team will have up to 90 seconds to perform at Gillette Stadium during the Super Bowl. The entire school will have the opportunity to watch the performance during a rally being held on Dec. 4.

“I’m very nervous, but it’ll be an experience. I’m so happy to be a part of it, especially with this team. It’s going to be a blast,” said Bourgeois.

“A lot of people don’t know, but we work really hard. We work throughout the week. We have long practices at night. It takes a lot of dedication,” she added.