On Monday, November 20, Palestine’s school board met at the Palestine High School to discuss a very important and controversial topic. Would Palestine and Hutsonville decide to tri-op with Oblong again for football? The 2024 football season would have been the 7th season as OPH Wildcats. When the tri-op first began, there were many mixed emotions about the decision. Now that the football tri-op has been tested, there are even more mixed emotions than before. They made the decision to change our football program’s course during the board meeting so that it would no longer be in line with the policies of the other two OPH districts. The board decided to bring football back to the Pal-Hut co-op. This was an agreement along with Hutsonville and Oblong. To take the next few steps, the board meeting will be followed by a co-op athletic committee meeting.

As an OPH cheerleader, I could see the sturggles our football players went through. Most of all, throughout the struggles, I could see how close all the football players and their coaches were. They were family.

I talked to Makenzie McDaniel and Avry Monti about their feelings on this decision. They were both very involved in the OPH football family.

Makenzie Mcdaniel didn’t have much to say, “what can I say, I don’t like it, not at all.” Makenzie believes the board should’ve asked the students their opinions before deciding whether or to do it.

Avry Monti had a similar answer. Avry stated, “why would they leave it up to board members who have never touched a football or experienced the brotherhood you share with your teammates.” Avry was just really sad about this.