While I celebrate the success of the Notre Dame football team I have another team to be proud of this year. Making strides this year is Scecina Memorial High School's football team, which just happens to be my alma mater.

Scecina, a small Catholic school in Indianapolis, was not expected to do much of anything this year but has continually stunned their competition. Beating much larger schools from across Indiana my small little school from the city has made it to the semistate game. This Saturday Scecina takes on Southridge and is only two victories away from a state championship.

No, I'm not one of those people obsessed with the "good ol' high school days" but having a sister who is currently a sophomore at Scecina has allowed me to keep a link alive. This link to my high school has drastically changed since I graduated, but is maintained through my sister. This is especially true in regards to the football team since my sister Susan is a cheerleader, ensuring that I have to make it to at least one game. This is so I can both cheer her on and tease her. Believe me if you ever had to see her struggle to do a push up after the team scores, then you would make fun of her too.

But as she strives to balance homework, cheerleading, choir, student government and what seems like a million other things it is fun for me to be able to share my experiences and wisdom [yes I am very wise] with my sister. Imparting knowledge about which teachers to avoid, especially the ones who charge you a dollar for having your shirt untucked, [remember this is a Catholic school with uniforms] and that a lunch should be packed everyday, because hot lunches from the cafeteria can be a little shady [as in unidentifiable].

Being the older sister I've never had to deal with being associated or compared to a sibling, as I got to be the first to have the new experiences, but for my sister this has not been true. Especially annoying to her is when she is accidentally called by my name in class. It's not even like my sister and I look a lot alike, she's four inches shorter than me, with dark hair and eyes, basically the complete opposite of me.

One thing she has had that I never did while I attended Scecina was a successful football season and as my sister and her classmates experience the ups and downs of high school I can only hope that this weekend gives Scecina students, present and past, with lasting memories.

Good Luck Scecina Crusaders!

• Family ties keep spirit alive