Fremont loses in the Battle of the Bell against Homestead
September 10, 2021
The renowned battle of the bell between Fremont High School and long-standing rival Homestead High School took place Friday night, Sept. 3, 2021, at Fremont. The battle of the bell is a years old tradition between FHS and HHS, where the winning team keeps the bell on their own campus until the next year’s battle.
Nobody knows how exactly this tradition came about, but it first started in 1985. Throughout the duration of the Battle of the Bell in the past, Fremont has nine wins while Homestead has 21 wins. Including Pre-Bell records, Homestead leads the overall series 36-22.
Due to the pandemic, last year’s battle of the bell in-person attendance was only open to family members of the football players. The number of performers, such as members of the pep-band, cheerleading team or dance team, were also reduced. This year’s game allowed for student spectators in the stands.
As they looked forward to the results of the game, the atmosphere in the Fremont stands was positive and hopeful.
“Fremont definitely has what it takes to win,” FHS sophomore Pihu Chawra said before the game.
On the HHS stands, HHS junior Ningning O’Brien predicted that the HHS varsity team would win.
“I don’t know much about [the FHS football team], but they’re just going to go down, we’ll see,” said O’Brien.
Homestead scored the first touchdown and maintained the lead throughout the game. Fremont’s touchdown and field goal were no match for the Homestead varsity team. The long awaited game resulted in Fremont’s first loss of this season. Homestead won 27-9, marking the third consecutive year the bell has gone to Homestead.
Although not surprised at the results, FHS varsity cheerleader Nea Guzman discloses that she believed in Fremont’s varsity football team.
“Last week we won our game [against Evergreen], so [I] definitely had a lot of faith [because of] that,” said Guzman.
The JV football team also lost their game against Homestead earlier the same day.
Disappointed due to the loss, FHS JV cornerback Ralph Accola admits that their team’s mindset was not in the best place during their game.
“The main reason we lost is because of ourselves, we were messing up, so I don’t think they’re too big of a challenge, I think we just gotta step up our game” said Accola.
Fremont morale remains positive despite the loss.
“It sucks to see that Homestead [is] ringing the bell, but next year, we’ll get at it,” said Accola. “We have heart, so losing this will just make us want to come back.”
