Haley Duff remembers her very first game as a Montgomery County football cheerleader.

It was in her freshman year, when the Wildcats took on Hermann at Jim Blacklock Field in the 2020 season opener for both teams.

“I was like in the back row scared and was by myself,” Duff said. “I didn’t know what I was doing.”

Now, Duff is part of a senior class that includes Autumn Hunter, Peyton McGough and Myla Woltman. They’re leading a cheerleading team that has six juniors and one sophomore.

“It’s great,” Duff said. “I got to learn a lot of new things and meet a lot of new people. I got to try fun and exciting things that I didn’t think I would ever do.”

Duff, Hunter, McGough and Woltman got to cheer in the Wildcats’ season-opening, 27-21 win at Hermann on Aug. 25. The contest marked the beginning of the last season for the senior quartet on the football cheerleading team.

“I’m upset because it was my last first game,” Duff said.

McGough, who joined the cheerleading team when she was a sophomore, said she was anxious to make the trip to Hermann to start her third and final year with the cheerleaders.

“I wanted it to be a good game,” McGough said. “I wanted everyone to have fun. Now that I’m here, I’m pumped. The adrenaline is running through me.”

Like Duff, Hunter is also in her fourth year with the Wildcats’ cheerleading team. She transferred from Orlando, Fla., to Montgomery County High School in her freshman year.

“I love it,” Hunter said. “I met my best friends on the cheer team. It got me out of my comfort zone. I’m typically shy in school. But being an assistant captain, I have to do more stuff that I usually wouldn’t do like call out cheers and talk about more than I usually would in school.”

Hunter said the best moment of her cheerleading career came in her freshman year, when the Wildcats lost 50-49 to North Callaway in a Class 2 district semifinal.

“At the end of the game, everyone was hugging. We were all so sad that it ended,” Hunter said.

McGough’s best highlight came in her sophomore year, when the Wildcats lost 26-8 to Centralia in a Class 2 district quarterfinal game at Jim Blacklock Field.

“The last game we had in my sophomore year, we were all crying,” McGough said. “We were in a circle. I made a joke about how many days to Christmas there are. Everyone laughed and it cheered us up.”

McGough said she got interested in cheering on the football team after being on the basketball cheerleading team in her freshman year.

“I realized that I loved it so much,” McGough said. “I wanted to do it for football and see how I liked it. It’s completely different from basketball. There’s more dancing involved. It feels more like a family.”

Even though Woltman is in her second year with the football cheerleading team this fall, she has plenty of cheerleading experience.

“This is technically my ninth year cheering,” Woltman said. “I also cheered at Wellsville. I transferred here in my sophomore year. So cheer is my thing. I was destined to do it whenever I got here (to Montgomery County).”

Woltman said she will definitely be happy if the football team turns in a successful season this fall.

“I hope they do better than they did last year, for sure,” she said.

Juniors Gabby Arens, Hannah Blake, Megan Eikel, Rebecca Schulze and Serenity Shahan and sophomore Brianna Stierlin round out the team. Madelyn Woods is back for her second year as head coach.