Palo Verde High School had their fan favorite annual Homecoming Football game and Homecoming Parade. Many people showed up in their class colors with amazing energy.

The Homecoming parade started off the event with music, cheering, clubs, floats, and panther pride. 

The parade started at 5:00 p.m. on Pavilion Center Drive. The parade’s first event was the ROTC drums, which made everyone start talking and getting their phones out. Following them was the cheer team, dance team, marching band, Key Club, Monster Makers Club, IB Program, Politics Club, K Pop Club, Writing Club, E Sports Club, Future Panther float, 2025 Homecoming Court, the class of 2025 float, 2024 Homecoming Court, class of 2024 float, Homecoming Court of 2023, class of 2024 float, Homecoming Court of 2022, and the Class of 2022 float.

Many parents, PVHS students, and more showed up to the parade. It all went by very smoothly and quickly. After the parade, everyone was told to vote for their favorite float, and the class of 2022 won. 

An hour later, the homecoming football game began with Palo facing Foothill High School.

Ali Qadri, Wide Receiver and Cornerback on the Palo football team said, “Games like the Homecoming Game or honestly any home game we have, the team and I make sure we prepare that week at practice as hard as we can to beat the other team, make sure to lock in, and have that mindset of playing each down with everything we got.”

Going into this game, Palo was 3-1 coming off a three game win streak where they beat the teams Sierra Vista High School, Green Valley High School, and Basic High School. In this stretch they outscored their opponents by a total of 44 points and an average of two touchdowns per game. 

Foothill on the other hand was 1-1 going into this game, with a blowout win against Centennial High School, and a blowout loss to Liberty. They had 46 points for and 41 points against winning by 33 once and losing by 28 in another.

Sadly, Palo took a disappointing loss to Foothill with a score of 20-42.

Foothill played a good game, putting up a ton of yards on offense, capitalizing on their drives with touchdowns, and forcing turnovers on defense.

Despite the loss, Palo was able to score on a couple drives and come out of this game with several positives that Palo can continue to build off of for the rest of the season.

One positive was star player Paisley Nickleson, as he continued his amazing 2021 campaign. He had a touchdown early on a 10 yard rushing play and picked up big plays for Palo throughout. He was able to get the offense moving on several occasions and was in general a bright spot.

Qadri said, “I do believe this team has everything that it takes to become a winning team again, we have Canyon Springs this Thursday, then Bishop Gorman, and finally Legacy. We need to win 2 of those 3 games to make it to the playoffs and I know the team has put in enough work to make that happen.”

Although the Palo team lost this game, the crowd was able to stay engaged by cheering, and creating a positive energy throughout. Fans were able to hang out with their friends and try the new BBQ food that was provided. The game had a great turnout as a ton of people showed up, simultaneously filling the stands, while showing their  Panther pride.