With the quarterfinal blowout win against Gonzaga-Prep, the Vikings headed off to the semifinals against Graham-Kapowsin on Nov. 26, 2022, with little to no help from the student section. 

“We took in $7700 in cash and check sales during the Gonzaga Prep game and that’s pretty low compared to the average $13,000 per regular season game,” Athletic Director Jason Pearson said.

The headcount for the student section on Nov. 26 against Gonzaga-Prep was 58 students compared to a home game against Mariner on Oct. 14 where more than 250 students attended. 

But the thing is that the Gonzaga game was a playoff game, unlike the Mariner game which was a league game. 

“I just don’t have the money for a playoff game, I feel like our ASB should make it free all season long,” junior Keona Barcus said.

League games cost $7 without ASB and are free to students with ASB. Though playoff games cost students $11 a ticket per game. A Lake Stevens High School ASB card costs $40. One of the biggest perks of an ASB card is that students can get into home-school sporting events for free.

Our ASB money goes towards things like better equipment and more entertaining assemblies. 

“With the money raised from the ASB membership we can host fun assemblies while keeping our school equipment updated,” Business Secretary Melissa Dee said. 

 Playoff games are played on Saturdays which can make the attendance count drop. When school is in session Monday through Friday, students are busy all day during the week. 

“I usually work on Saturdays and never have time to make it to playoff games like I would regular league games,” senior Kole Kroeze said. 

Could it be because playoff games are in the middle of the winter? In an intense playoff game against North Creek on Nov. 11, the temperature was 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s a little above freezing and on top of the cold temperature, there was a four-five mile per hour wind that lasted between eight-nine p.m. 

“It’s always so cold during playoff games, and I would rather watch the game at home,” senior Chloe Salapich said.
The last five league games the Vikings played, were 10/7 Eastlake, 10/14 Mariner, 10/21 Kamiak, and 10/28 Glacier peak. The Vikings averaged 43.2 points per game; while the Viking’s opponents only averaged 8.6 points per game. And a current average attendance is way over 1000 according to existing Vikings score tracker Gary Boggs. 

“There’s a significantly less amount of students, it is horrible. There’s no one there,” said senior Jacob Hostetter on the Vikings football team. 

“I feel like everybody is too lazy to come to playoff games because they aren’t on Friday nights,” senior Aaron Parker said. 

That’s a little more than half of the usual attendance during a football game. Furthermore, there’s always a very noticeable lack of attendance between the league and playoff games. How can we as a school come together and fix this problem?