Walled Lake Western celebrates homecoming

Walled Lake Western capped a fun-filled homecoming week with a thrilling victory over Lakeland.

The festivities started during the school day on Monday kicking off spirit week. Then on Friday afternoon, the Warriors had their annual homecoming pep assembly that featured performances by the Warriors’ choir and cheerleaders. Walled Lake Western senior Gabriella Sallan gave us an inside look at the fun throughout the day with an Instagram takeover. You can watch it by clicking on the “WLW Hoco ‘25” highlight on our Instagram page.

Halftime of the football game was jam packed with entertainment. There were performances from both the Walled Lake Western cheerleaders and marching band. The Warriors also surprised their king and queen, Rodney Endsley and Mya Esters.

“It feels really good,” said Esters. “I worked really hard for it because I campaigned last year, and I am just really happy and excited.”

“I was shocked, I was excited, I’ve never felt that excited in a minute,” said Endsley. “I never thought I would be in this spot, but with my beautiful girlfriend here we got to this spot, and I am really happy.”

Lucas Hoffmeyer and Gabriella Sallan were named this year’s homecoming Prince and Princess, and Pasha Goffee and Shivani Aji were recognized as the homecoming Warrior and Maiden.

Walled Lake Western and Lakeland battled in an all-out war on field. The two traded touchdowns throughout the entire night, but when the Warriors needed a stop in the final seconds they got it. Wes Nichols broke up an Eagles pass in the endzone to seal the victory, 42-35.

“I read my key, made the play, ran to the student section,” said Nichols. “We’ve dealt with so much adversity throughout the season, and it’s just nice to pull one out in a close game. (We) battled all game, everyone’s got injuries, so it was a great team win.”

“We talked to our kids before the game about having to play 48 minutes, and we literally had to play 48 full minutes winning it on the final play.” said head coach Kory Cioroch. “Our kids are fighting through adversity right now, they’re coming together, and that win is going to be really big for our program and our kids moving forward.”

“They came out swinging and I just said, you know what, I am just going to keep running,” said Donovan Triplett, who led the Warriors with five rushing touchdowns. “Holy man, I was with my student section, I was jumping up and down, I’m like man this a real homecoming because we just came home with the win.”