DACUSVILLE — The Dacusville Middle School cheer squad might have fewer numbers this year, but that has not stopped the girls from racking up awards or earning an invite to cheer at the NCAA football ACC championship game.
“I’m ridiculously proud of them,” said cheer coach Michelle Stephens. “They worked so hard and for them to be such a small group of them this year — it was just really impressive.”
The girls form a squad of eight made up from seventh and eighth graders at the school. Just two years ago, Stephens had 21 on the team.
“I think there’s probably a lot of factors on why the number has dropped,” said Stephens. “For one, we (Dacusville Middle) feed into Pickens High and they don’t cheer competitively so a lot of the girls are attracted to other sports. We also only have around 300 students total so really, everything has gotten smaller.”
Recently, the squad headed over to Furman for an annual camp hosted by the Universal Cheerleader’s Association (UCA) where they came home with several awards including All American, Best Jumper, Superior Stunt Evaluation and Staff Leadership.
They also walked away with the ACC invite.
“We’ve been invited before — two times actually — but I didn’t expect it this time because we are so small,” said Stephens. “They’ll travel to Charlotte and will actually get to do a routine on the field at Panther Stadium during the pre-game show. They’re so excited.”
When not prepping for their big debut with the NCAA, the girls cheer at volleyball games and girls and boys basketball games.
The Dacusville Middle School Cheerleaders will take the field during the pregame of the NCAA ACC Championship football game in Charlotte, N.C., on Dec. 5.
