On Friday, September 11^th during a game between the Westside Wolves and the Conroe Tigers at Butler Stadium, the Westside Wild Wolves, a group of fans started by seven Westside seniors, were removed from the stadium late into the game.

Throughout the game -which went into four overtimes- the students continually ran around the stands yelling, cheering, and trying to motivate the fans to cheer on their team.

“Westside had a lack of school spirit,” founder Taylor Winzeler said. “Games were dull, so my friend Andrew and I came to a game and starting doing cheers and getting loud and it all just grew from there. We thought we could make a difference.”

And make a difference they have. Their chants and cheers have given new life to the Westside fans.

“People never came to any sporting events before the Wild Wolves were formed,” senior Emily Baird said. “But now that we have these guys coming and supporting the teams so emphatically, everyone wants to come out and cheer. The football stadium is the place to be now on Friday nights.”

But their eccentricity went a little too far at the Conroe game.

Late into the overtime period, the students had a dispute with an HISD police officer who had told the group to sit down and stop running around the stadium. After the altercation, the students were removed from the game by the officer at the direction of Butler Stadium officials.

“I think it was a little too over the top in terms of their (stadium officials) trying to create a safe situation; there was definitely not an unsafe situation,” HISD district six trustee Greg Meyers said.

The next day, Meyers called Darryl Wade, the athletic director for all of HISD to look into what exactly happened at the game.

“Mr. Wade talked to Butler officials and it may have been a little over exuberance on their part, and unfortunately the young men faced some of those consequences,” Meyers said.

The following Monday, Wade met with the students involved in a private meeting with the students and the principal of Westside.

“Mr. Wade apologized and told us that it was a misunderstanding between the officer and the Wild Wolves, and that we need to listen to the officer no matter what the situation,” Winzeler said.

Also discussed in the meeting was the future of the Wild Wolves. The verdict? The Wild Wolves is now a school sponsored club.

“It’s not something that will have an impact on us. But it will have a huge impact on the school and the school’s spirit,” Winzeler said. “We’re still going to be crazy and rowdy – supporting our team.”