By Shannon Smith and Molly Mueller
Executive In-Depth and Executive Online Sports Editors 
The U, Prospect’s student section, has big plans for Friday, Dec 5 as both the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams will have their first Mid Suburban League match of the season. This time, the U has in store a road trip to Hersey.
The road trip will start at Prospect at 5:30 where there will be pizza and the first 200 students there will get a ticket, which they can redeem for a shirt at Hersey.
Last year, the U did a Road Trip for the Hersey game and close to 300 students filled the stands. According to seniors Sam Garcia and Alex Blethen, the U is hoping to have the same or larger outcome of students.
Because it is at  the beginning of the season though, Blethen is unsure they will reach that goal. Either way, he thinks the road trip will get the basketball season off to a good start.
“Even if this number isn’t as colossal as we’d like it to be it kinda starts off the season on a good note so it will help us get more fans going to games later in the season,” Blethen said.
According to Blethen and Garcia, the rivalry between Orange Crush and The U is escalating. The Orange Crush plans on doing the very “creative and original” idea of being completely silent until Hersey scores eight points.
“I’m just excited because it’s Hersey, it’s the OC (Orange Crush),” senior Eryk Krzyzak said. “It’s always fun whenever The Underground and the OC, Hersey and Prospect meet. It’s a big rivalry. I think that just adds to the height.”
Blethen sees this as an advantage for Prospect’s basketball team because while the Orange Crush is silent, the U will be able to help the team out by cheering them on, which is what the student section is for.
“I feel because [Hersey] is starting against us, which is a rivalry, it’s a home game and the fact that they have an event that is new to just their school they’ll be able to draw a fan section, but they don’t have the experience we do in rattling basketball players,” Blethen said.
Road Trip Schedule
To kick off the road trip, students will park in circle drive behind the lead car at 5:30. Then, head into the commons to eat pizza, listen to music and receive a t-shirt ticket, which will be redeemed at Hersey.
At 5:45 there will be a sendoff for the boys’ varsity basketball team with the Knight Line. After the team’s departure,The U will lead students in practicing basketball cheers for the game.
Following the cheers, students will leave Prospect for Hersey between 6 and 6:15.
Once at Hersey, staff members will be distributing white Underground shirts to students who have their ticket. The girls’ varsity game starts at 6 so students will file into the gym after receiving their shirt. The boys’ game will start at 7:30 after the girls finish.