Every year, the De Soto High School football and soccer teams have an annual green-white scrimmage, where they will be split into two teams and play each other to prepare them for the upcoming season. This year, DHS has decided to combine the two scrimmages and add in many other activities that showcase other fall sports and groups around the school in a new event called Fall Fest.

Fall Fest starts on Friday, Aug 25 at 5 p.m. with the green-white soccer scrimmage and youth tennis and football scrimmages, and ending with the varsity football scrimmage at 7 p.m. At 5:30 p.m. there will be varsity tennis matches and a cross country fun run. There will also be a disc golf tournament with tee times anytime between 5 and 6 p.m.. The concessions will be open all night along with a sno-cone truck in the DHS parking lot. In addition to the sports, there will also be performances from the cheer team, the Diamond Dancers, the band and De Soto Voce.

“We felt that bringing the entire DHS community together at the beginning of the year to kind of kick the school year and the fall sports season off, is just a great way to bring everybody together, have a night of family fun, activities for the kids, things like that,” athletics director Ryan Johnson said.

Another perk of having multiple activities happening on the same night is that more people will come out to support DHS.

“It’s going to be fun competing in front of the crowd like we do during the season,” senior football player Jack Barger said.

With many different teams being featured at Fall Fest, it is exposure for certain teams that have not received this amount of exposure in the past.

“Those teams that didn’t necessarily have their scrimmage nights, this is a another way for them to showcase their program and get their parents and fans on campus and supporting them early in the season, and giving a sneak peek of what they’re going to see throughout the rest of the season,” Johnson said.

No matter if you are a player, student, parent or just a fan, there is something you will enjoy at Fall Fest.

“There will be stuff for all ages there, and I think anybody could have a great time at Fall Fest this year,” Barger said. “Whether they’re just there for football or something completely opposite, they’ll have a great time there for sure.”