BFA CELEBRATES 3-PEAT

[Henry]

A Special Thanks To Emily Wills For Writing This Article For The St. Albans Messenger --  Received Several Notes Regarding The Poor Recognition By The Media On This Accomplishment By Our Cheerleaders

FAIRFAX — It's a "three-peat" for the Fairfax varsity cheer-leaders. The team went to Essex last Saturday and won the State Championship for Division III for the third straight year. Students at Bellows Free Academy-Fairfax are calling it a "dynasty," but coach Jody Mossey calls it teamwork paying off.

"This Is the best win of all three of them," Mossey said, "because of all the obstacles we fought through to get there. We had illness and injuries. We had six of our practices leading up to competition cancelled due to weather. It came to the point where the girls had to decide to either throw in the towel and just compete for fun or to buckle down and go for the championship. We decided to go for it."

Mossey says that while she is losing nine seniors at the end of this season, she doesn't really believe next year will be a building year because the returning cheerleaders will step in to take the seniors' places.

"I look at JV" said Mossey, "and I see that those kids are really talented and ready to step up next winter."

The Fairfax cheerleading squad was thrilled to compete with such strong schools in Division III this year. "The competition was really strong, which is great," said Mossey. "Richford was really awesome, and that's great to see. It was truly a great competition this year."

Richford placed third in the competition.

A large contingent of residents Franklin County went to Essex to cheer on their team, and went wild when they were announced the winners.

The Fairfax squad scored a 175 out of 200 possible points at competition. Not only was this score good enough to defeat all the Division III schools' scores, but all the Division Two scores as well. Overall, the Fairfax score was third behind only Essex and Rutland, two Division I competitors. For Mossey and her team, that is a true testament to how anything is possible with a lot of practice, strong team-work and the support of a town.
— EMILY WILLS — St. Albans Messenger — Thursday, February 24, 2005