Bringing a Little Cheer to Fort Benton

Allie Wallace is a junior at Fort Benton High School. She’s been a member of the Longhorn cheer team or the last three years. During the fall, it’s not uncommon to have a smaller cheer team; some of the girls on the squad play volleyball. This year’s team only has three members. Last week, when Fort Benton qualified for the 2019 State volleyball tournament, it was a no-brainer that the Longhorns would be sending their cheerleaders to help support them in Bozeman. However due to some unforeseen circumstances, Allie found herself alone at the tournament. “I only knew that one of our girls wasn’t going to be able to be there, and then the day before I found out our other one wasn’t,” she said. “So it was kind of just surprising. We’ve cheered alone at home, but at state it’s quite a bit different.” She cheered the first two games by herself, doing her best to rally the Longhorn fans and the team. But, during game three, the unexpected happened. “[The Helena High cheerleaders] came over and just noticed I was alone, and they were like ‘we’re gonna cheer with you if that’s okay,’ and I was like ‘of course!’ It was so nice having other people there yelling.” Allie and the Bengals joined forces to help lift the Longhorns during a difficult match, and while they didn’t defeat Bridger in that game, the sportsmanship on the sidelines was a victory in itself. I’m just so thankful for them to come. That was so nice, and it just made me so much more comfortable being there because I didn’t know anyone else except for a few Fort Benton people, so having these other cheerleaders I can go talk to after, it was just really nice being able to.” It just goes to show how a little kindness can go a long way.