Highland High School brings the Trojan energy for Orange Friday

HIGHLAND, Ind. - This week's Orange Friday pep rally featured Highland High School in Indiana, home of the Trojans.

They have a new high school sport, bocce ball. Special needs athletes are able to play, with the assistance of fellow students and athletes. The football Trojans cheered on the bocce ball team.

Student Caiden Quig explained how the sport is played.

"You have a white ball, you toss it out, you compete one on one with the other balls. It’s kind of like shuffleboard. You try and get the ball as close to the white ball as possible and see who wins," Quig said.

Student Walter Glover Junior said the sport fosters interaction.

"With the special needs students here at Highland, it brings everybody together, it’s like one big community and a family here at Highland. And it’s a joy to see everybody working with each other to make this all happen. It’s just very great to see," Glover said.

Student Casey Disanto added, "I think it’s amazing. And it think it really proves how much people really want to come in and bring our town together. And it’s just so nice to see because we had the parents of the bocce ball kids come in and they were like, ‘I just want to see my kid interact with other kids,’ and it is such a nice feeling."

The Trojan mascot ran out to surprise the pep rally crowd. The guest was unmasked, revealing his identity: it was the principal, John Zack, who led the crowd in cheers, celebrating what he called the magic of Highland.