On Friday afternoon, September 8, the Old West came to the East—East Juniata that is.  A cowboy- themed pep rally was held in the school gymnasium, with the concept having been chosen because, later that night, the EJ Tigers were to meet their cross-county rivals, the Juniata Indians, on the football field, and it's well known that the Indians’ main foes are cowboys! Principal Ben Fausey got the rally started with some inspirational words, including a responsive phrase well known to the students: “We are—EJ!” Then everybody headed West. The entire student body was encouraged to dress according to the theme for the day, and during the pep rally, senior Jacob Kinzer was selected the best dressed cowboy via applause vote. The same manner was used to decide the best cry of “Yeehaw!” with the winner being freshman Dylan Marker. One of the selections the Tiger Marching Band chose for the rally was “We Didn't Start the Fire,” but their performance defied the title, as the students filling the bleachers became quite fired up, especially the seventh graders, who took advantage of their first opportunity to showcase their school spirit in a pep rally setting. The cowboy kind of fun continued with a western-wear relay race among representatives of the ninth through 12th grades. The junior class was declared the winner, defeating the sophomor s by no more than a horse hair! And the horsehair kept flying during a stick horse race between Tiger football player John Moyer and teacher Mr. Arlen Saner. The athlete galloped away with a victory in what all of EJ hoped would turn out to be a preview of the night’s football game.  Unfortunately, that didn’t end up being the case with the final score on the field Friday night, but the day’s pep rally had left no doubt that not even the tallest of ten gallon hats could contain EJ’s school spirit!