By: Nate Jordan

Basketball season is officially here folks, and the Poteau boys basketball team is working hard to make this season one of their best. The Pirates open up their season on December 3rd against Checotah at Sherman Floyd Fieldhouse. Sophomore Dax Collins is excited about the upcoming season. He feels defense is the strong point of his game and his goal is to improve his scoring. Speaking of goals, asked Coach Wood said he’d like to see improvement on the team’s offense this season. The team has six games to prepare before tournaments start in January. As with any sport, being prepared will help set up a team for success. “We scout the other team. Look for their tendencies and what they like to do. We try to take away those things and we look for matchups that we believe we can take advantage of,” says head coach Brandon Wood. Senior Dean Odom says he prepares for games by stepping outside and finding an escape from the noise. My personal thoughts on the upcoming season, Go, Pirates!

By: Tyler Baker

Matt Aguero is one of Poteau’s newest additions to its coaching staff. Aguero has a strong athletic background, which helped mold his coaching career. “I played everything growing up. Baseball season I played baseball, football season I played football. I wasn't really good at anything that I played. I had a little success on the track. I won my first race in the eighth grade and that kinda got me going with XC.” In college, while competing for Minot State, Aguero became an NAIA all-American while setting the school record in the marathon. While becoming an all-region cross country runner and three-time national track and field meet qualifier Aguero also set the East Central marathon record while becoming an all-region cross country runner and three-time national track and field meet qualifier. Aguero has run more than 30 marathons, including the Boston Marathon, Chicago Marathon, and the New York City Marathon. He won the 2005 Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. Aguero’s coaching career began in 2004-05 as an assistant at Virginia Intermont. Aguero helped Virginia Intermont to the 2004 NAIA men’s cross country. “I had a lot of good teachers and coaches growing up like in t-ball I thought my t-ball coach was the coolest guy in the world. I wanted to be a T-ball coach until I realized they don't get paid.” His teams have nationally finished top five in cross country, won five national titles, two runner-up finishes in indoor track, and thirteen in outdoor track. As well as national team championships, Coach Aguero has led a total of 38 individual and relay national champions. He was named the NAIA men’s cross country coach of the year in 2018 and 2019. Aguero has been named the Sooner Athletic Conference coach of the year a total of seven times. Coach Aguero hopes to bring a winning attitude to Poteau XC, “It just takes a little time and we have got a bunch of athletes that work hard so I think we can get there.”

By: Tyler Baker

Cheer is a sport that is often overlooked yet being one of the most dangerous and physically demanding. 96 percent of concussions and head injuries in cheerleading are caused by stunts. Without the proper training on how to toss and catch the flyer, along with practice, these injuries will continue to occur. According to Co-captain Reagan Bullard, “Training for cheer can be very hard. When it comes to competitions we work extremely hard. If something goes wrong we restart and try again. This process will repeat until it hits like we would perform it.” Cheer makes up 50-60 percent of fatal injuries in female athletes. “We work almost year round to be the squad we are!! Tryouts are in March and in May we begin practice to learn the 65 sideline chants, and 20 sideline dances. We practice throughout the summer as well”, says cheer coach Valerie Odom. We have a new JV cheer coach this year, Joni Roop. She has prior experience with helping many teams in choreography with this being her first year officially coaching. She's already claimed to be building a strong relationship with her cheerleaders. “It is more difficult to create a strong bond when I do not teach at the high school level, but with each practice we all become closer and closer. I am so grateful to get to know each of my cheerleaders!” When asked what makes a cheerleader there was all a recurring theme in responses: A cheerleader is someone who's confident, spirited and courageous. A cheerleader is someone that is dedicated & positive. A cheerleader is a person who does not give up easily!! They have to realize that it takes hard work and long hours to make the stunts and cheers we do look easy.

By: Tyler Baker

Cross country season has come to an end and for some, it’s their last season here at PHS. When asked what she thought of her performance with this year being her last, Zoe Nesbitt said “That question stings a little. It’s bittersweet, I love this sport and want to watch as our younger runners get faster and stronger, but the competitor in me wants to race forever.” Seniors have really taken charge this year and played a big part in increasing morale within the team. “I got a chance to lead a lot more this year and felt like a larger part of the team. I feel confident in the team coming next year, young as ours is,” said Riley Gastelum. With the help of Coach Aguero, our runners are pushing themselves harder than ever and some like Shelby Zink are finding a new appreciation for the sport. “I first started running as a way to stay active, but this year has made me view the sport more competitively. I enjoy representing my school and being part of a team. “ This is Coach Aguero’s first year at Poteau as well as coaching at the high school level. “I have been coaching collegiately for the past 17 years, so there are many new things that stand out to me. The majority of our athletes have improved quite a bit from the start of the season until now. Our Monday long runs have also been a highlight. It's exciting to see athletes run farther than they ever have before. I really enjoyed seeing our athletes get the opportunity to compete at the prestigious Chile Pepper Festival.”Not only did Poteau attend the chili pepper festival PHS Cross Country placed top 5 in regionals qualifying them to attend the state meet on Oct. 30th. Poteau competed against 4a schools from all over the state. Runner Zoe Nesbitt has high hopes when it comes to state “I think we’ve got a good shot at coming in the top ten, a tall order when ranking against these private schools. We’re stronger, faster, and more conditioned than ever before, it looks good.” Poteau left for the state meet Friday the 29th to compete in the state meet the following day with the boys placing 7th out of 21 other 4a schools and the girls placing 8th out of 21 and PHS senior Zoe Nesbitt coming in at 11th place out of 165 with a time of 11:37 in the two-mile. Congrats on a great season!

By: Nate Jordan

The Pirates are currently three and one into this football season, with their only loss being to an amazing Shiloh Christian team. They are coming off of a good win against Hilldale last Friday, about which senior Dean Odom stated “Hilldale… was picked over us in a lot of polls, but we soundly defeated them…” While the Pirates are winning games, they are still getting better each day and focusing on their weak spots. “We need to work on coming off the ball a little bit more, and being able to throw the football and a higher completion rate.” Last Friday’s game against Hilldale began district play. Although Hilldale was the most anticipated game of the regular season, the Pirates are also awaiting their possible matchup against Tuttle in the semifinals.

Since Coach Greg Werner has come back, the Pirates have had some pretty memorable games and moments. When asked about his own, Dean said “... the state championship game in 2019 because it was awesome to see that many people in that big of a stadium.”

Come out and support the Pirates tonight at 7:00, who will face the Tulsa McLain Titans.

By: Tyler Baker

Poteau’s cross country team has been practicing since mid-summer. With the new season and a new head coach, runners ' hard work is paying off. Coach Matt Aguero is no stranger to Poteau nor running. He holds 2 records in the 1,600 and 5,000-meter run and hopes to bring a “champion mindset” to PHS cross country. The Pirates traveled to Bixby, OK this past Thursday where they placed fifth out of the six schools in an invitation-only meet. For being a 4-a school competing with 5/6-a schools, the pirates Held up well with seven runners, Stihl Snyder, Ramiro Lucero, Alexe Pickle, Ashly Johnson, Lyndsey Clark, Zoe Nesbitt, and Camryn Zink finishing top 25 for medal qualification. The Pirates showcased their hard work once more in a 1-4A division race at Ben Geren Regional Park in Fort Smith, Arkansas on 9/11 in an invitation-only meet, where they placed first. The pain and anguish felt by runners at practice and races will show when the results come through many runners will expect to have a new personal record. When asked their favorite thing about Poteau Cross Country runner Beau Flanagan said, “Last year I was only able to consistently run a mile and now I’m running four and a half miles on easy days, I'm excited to see how far I can run.” PHS Cross Country is working hard and hopes to show that in upcoming races all throughout the season.

Photos courtesy: Matt Aguero

By Kaylee Rorabaugh

Our softball Lady Pirates have been very busy with a record of 23-14. Sophomore Annika Dill has a batting average of 550 as they finish the regular season and are on to the regional tournaments next Thursday, October 7th, at Verdigris. There are four teams going: Verdigris, Berry Hill, Poteau, and Jay. They play Berryhill for their first game.

It is a 4 team double-elimination tournament to determine who goes to state tournaments. “What a great season and I’m looking forward to winning and getting to the first state tournament,” said Coach Dill.

By: Kaylee Rorabaugh

Poteau High School is lucky enough to have a cheer and dance team. Our dance team is called the Poteau Pom Squad and was formerly known as the Silver Steppers. The coaches are Leslie Hemphill, she has been a coach for four years and is a counselor. The other coach is Tiffany Sconyers.

The dance team dances to sideline routines the band plays during football games as well as perform pom, hip-hop, and jazz routines at halftime of football and basketball games. The team started in 2001 with Patty Giles. The squad goes to competitions and has one hopefully in January in Dallas. Sophomore Adriana Crouch said “I love being on the team, dancing and having a good time with my favorite people and wouldn’t want to be a part of any other team.” The Pom squad hosts a week long practice to get ready for tryouts that following Friday, tryouts are in the middle of March. They also practice Monday and Wednsdays at six in the morning during summer and at 3:30 pm when school starts. You can try out for the team as a freshman and if you make it from a freshman to a junior then you are already on the team as a senior if you still want to be on the team.