Milton Hershey School Student-Athletes and Coaches Share a Preview of the Fall Sports Season
Now that the 2026-27 school year has officially begun, Milton Hershey School student-athletes have hit the fields and are ready to take on the fall season. Every student-athlete on the MHS cross country, field hockey, football, golf, soccer, and volleyball teams is ready to compete and take the season by storm.
To celebrate the commitment our senior athletes have shown to Spartan athletics, we asked them to provide a preview of the fall sports season.
Cheerleading
Edwina “Nevaeh” Caulker
What are you most looking forward to about this season?
I’m really looking forward to seeing people in the stands and especially young girls in the crowd. They like to copy cheers and do the motions with us. I really like seeing that because it inspires us to do better and inspires them to want to cheer in high school.
What’s something about being a Spartan that you’re proud of?
I love how our community shows up.
Cross Country
Kayden Branche-Jefferson
What are you most looking forward to about this season?
To improve and go to districts.
What’s something about being a Spartan that you’re proud of?
We always have each other’s backs.
Coach Caitlin Heller
What are you most looking forward to this season?
I’m super excited for the season. They’ve been working really hard, and I have 10 years of coaching at my old district to kind of lean on, but I’m really happy with their efforts and attitudes, and I’m just really excited to be competing with them in the Mid-Penn. And I think they’re going to do really well. I think they’re going to surprise some people, so I’m excited.
What do you hope the players take away from their experience?
I always really try to focus on giving effort and having a positive attitude because I think that translates really to anything in life. So just working on their mindset and that they can do hard things. And so, I think if we get to the end of the season and they’re all proud of themselves and did things that they didn’t think that they could do, that would be a really awesome accomplishment outside of. It’s not all about winning and losing. It’s like, can you build and translate into future careers and goals in school and stuff? So, if we could do that, we’ll be good.
Field Hockey
Sofia Nuwanguzi
What are you most looking forward to about this season?
It’s my senior year, so I want to play my hardest. I am excited to play with these women one more time.
What is one piece of advice you’d give your fellow athletes to achieve excellence?
Find your why. Find why you want to keep going, why you want to wake up every day, get ready, and be on the pitch. That really pushes you through the hard times. Everything is a mindset.
What’s something about being a Spartan that you’re proud of?
I’m very proud of how far I’ve come. Life is not always easy. I’m very proud of the person I’ve become.
Coach Gina Allesie ’90
What are you most looking forward to this season?
The team collectively as a whole, they’ve been working super hard. We’re working on their fitness, their cardio endurance, their skills, teamwork, and communication. So, we’re really excited for our first scrimmage. Then we can really zone in on fine-tuning what we need for our first game. Overall, I have a great mix of freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors on the varsity team. So, they’re all going to work together to achieve what they need to.
What do you hope the players take away from their experience?
I want them to come out at the end of the season being better than they were when they started, ending stronger than they did last year, and seeing what impact each of them can make on the team collectively to raise the program higher.
Football
Demetrius Davis, Football
What are you most looking forward to about this season?
I’m looking forward to seeing a good team culture come together. Coach Taylor brings a very good type of energy to our team.
What’s something about being a Spartan that you’re proud of?
The good energy and the pride we take in being a family.
Coach Jimmy Taylor
What are you most looking forward to this season?
It’s fun. I coached football here for 19 years, so this is my first year as head coach. I’ve known them from wrestling, so I know the kids, and it really is a great job. They’re doing everything we ask, and it’s been fun to see them work hard. And we’re really just trying to change the culture. So that’s kind of been our main point. And right now, they’ve really done everything we’ve asked.
What do you hope the players take away from their experience?
We really want to show two things: you can have high character and still win. It doesn’t have to be just winning. It doesn’t have to be just high character; you could do both. So that’s really our goal. And obviously to improve on two and eight from last year. As long as we keep everybody healthy and get the kids to keep buying what we’re selling, I think the goal is to win more games than not and flip that two-and-eight.
Golf
Austin Hill
What are you most looking forward to about this season?
I am looking forward to setting an example. This is our first year as a program and I’m excited to hopefully make an impact for the future and just go out and compete.
What’s something about being a Spartan that you’re proud of?
Something that I’m proud of about being a Spartan is the opportunities that I’m given and being able to display them.
Coach Zachery Clapper
What are you most looking forward to this season?
I think what I’m most looking forward to is our kids getting a diverse experience they might not have had otherwise. A lot of our kids are unable to provide this opportunity for themselves. So being able to provide this opportunity and level the playing field in the golf world as we join the Mid-Penn, I’m super pumped about it. I think it’s going to be awesome.
What do you hope the players take away from their experience?
I hope our kids learn life lessons through the game. I think that golf is a sport that no doubt will humble you. It is definitely one of the most humbling sports out there. So, my biggest thing would be that our kids take away the life lesson of always being humble, never getting too low, never getting too high, and just staying the course and learning some perseverance through it all.
Boys Soccer
Marvin Dadzie
What are you most looking forward to about this season?
I’m looking forward to seeing how the team synergizes this season and potentially making playoffs.
What’s something about being a Spartan that you’re proud of?
The community. I like how close and communicative we are. We care about each other.
Coach Chris Spinogatti ’07
What are you most looking forward to this season?
I’m most looking forward to seeing our guys compete on the field and achieving things that haven’t been done in Milton Hershey soccer since the 80’s. Our guys work super hard, so just seeing them put it all together and all the work that they do in the off season, looking forward to seeing all that play out.
What do you hope the players take away from their experience?
The idea of team and culture, I’m a big believer in like our team, soccer is the medium to help them be successful adults. So, if I see that they understand like what it means to be part of a team, what it means to understand culture, what it means to work hard, what it means to demonstrate grit and resilience then and them work towards that, then I know that they’re going to be successful adults because that’s the most important thing to me.
Girls Soccer
Lilly Gullace
What are you most looking forward to about this season?
I’m most looking forward to our senior night and our Pink Out because we’re going to be playing on Henry Hershey Field.
What’s something about being a Spartan that you’re proud of?
Representing my community.
Coach Kelsie Garman
What are you most looking forward to this season?
I’m looking forward to the girls really getting into the season, and I would like to our record to be a lot better than it was last year. We won 10 games last year, that’s the most in Milton Hershey School girls soccer history. So, I’m just looking for the girls to really get into it and meet their goals and defend their title of the ten wins.
What do you hope the players take away from their experience?
Some of the things that I want them to take away is not just about soccer. It’s about life. I think they can learn a lot of lessons from soccer and take it into their future and all their goal setting, and college as well.
Volleyball
Aubrie Walker-Smith
What are you most looking forward to about this season?
Us becoming better teammates and winning.
What’s something about being a Spartan that you’re proud of?
The community.
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