The annual Lake Highlands Black Out football game isn’t until October 21 against Jesuit, but beginning this week, Wildcat cheerleaders are selling the newly re-designed Black Out t-shirts that have become an LH tradition. The idea, if you were living on Mars during the Mavericks’ storybook season and didn’t catch their “The Time Is Now” blue outs, is to overwhelm your opponent in a sea of spirit until they admit they’ve been beaten by sheer community will.

A portion of proceeds from t-shirt sales this year will go to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in honor of Kyle Crain. Kyle is the younger brother of LH senior Caroline, a Wildcat Wrangler, and sophomore Courtney, a JV cheerleader, and he’s the cousin of JV cheerleader Kate Tobey. Kyle was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes before kindergarten, and parents Kelly and Laura believe the JDRF will find a cure in Kyle’s lifetime.

T-shirts are $12 each and are sponsored once again by Alan Walne of Herb’s Paint and Body. All sizes are available and can be purchased at schedule pickups and back-to-school events at most LH-area schools. If that doesn’t work for you, call Mary Duncan at 214-348-3648 or email her here to arrange a purchase. And, as the mother of a diabetic, I add my thanks to that of the LHHS cheer squad, the JDRF and the Crain Family.