Freehold Township High School’s most competitive night is back once again with the highly anticipated Battle of the Classes (BotC). This year, grade-level rivalry reached all-new heights as the Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors fiercely battled for the BotC crown and ultimate bragging rights. If you couldn’t make it to the event—no worries, here’s the rundown of everything you might have missed:
The battle for the point lead started early, with classes earning monumental points long before anyone stepped foot into the gym on BotC night. Of course, the BotC main event isn’t the only way grades can earn points, as several other activities give each class a chance to get ahead before the big night even begins. One major opportunity to earn points based solely on attendance is the Homecoming Dance. The turnout at the dance is pretty predictable each year, and this year was no different: Freshmen earned the most points with 4, followed by Sophomores with 3, Juniors with 2, and Seniors with 1. Another FTHS classic is “Find the Patriot,” where each class guesses which faculty member fits a riddle announced over the morning announcements. The Juniors were the only class to participate this year, earning 8 additional points. Classes could also earn points through the Costume Contest, where each grade selects a different theme and goes all out. This year, Freshmen dressed in a McDonald’s theme, Sophomores went with Star Wars, Juniors chose Nightmare Before Christmas, and Seniors represented College Mascots. The Sophomores took home the most points, followed by the Seniors, then the Juniors, and finally the Freshmen. Lastly, the NHS and Octagon Club Coat Drive gave classes one more chance to earn points, with the Juniors coming out on top.
Prior to BotC night, the overall standings were: Juniors in first place with 22 points, Sophomores second with 15 points, Seniors third with 13 points, and Freshmen in fourth with 8 points.
Once actual BotC night arrived, each class had its fair chance for a dramatic team entrance, in classic Freehold Township style. The grades were welcomed in order, with the Freshmen entering first, clad in their team color: red. Next up were the Sophomores in white who introduced both their team and their seemingly endless supply of thundering air horns—a sound that would pierce the competition all night long. Much to the approval of their fans in the bleachers, the Juniors in orange were welcomed next, earning enthusiastic cheers from their corner. Last up were the Seniors in green, whose applause put the Junior team’s to shame. The Seniors’ entrance featured flips from the team’s cheerleaders and a choreographed sway from the boys, encouraged by the corralled cheers from the Seniors’ bleachers. Overall, the night was off to a great start, with each team’s fans fueling their hunger for first place.
Scooter Race:
The first activity of the night was the Scooter Race. In this event, all grade levels are on the floor at the same time, with the boys on one side of the gym and the girls on the other. The goal is to slide as fast as possible to the other side of the gym, alternating team members, until all participants have gone. In this year’s Scooter Race, the Juniors started off with an early lead, but the Seniors quickly took control, ultimately winning the challenge. The Freshmen came in a brutal last place, but kept morale high as their crowd of students cheered them on.
Egg Toss:
Next up was the classic Egg Toss, in which each grade level sends two pairs of partners to represent their team. The game’s goal is to toss the egg to your partner, with each round getting more difficult as the distance between partners increases. Before the game even began, the competition was fierce, as each grade took turns chanting competitively for their teams and against the others. After several rounds, the Freshmen were the first to lose one of their sets of partners, eliminating their final one shortly after. Eventually, the horizontal length of the gym was too short, and the remaining teams had to switch to a vertical standing. This led to the downfall of the Junior team and one partnership from both the Sophomore and Senior teams. The atmosphere was tense as the epic showdown between the remaining Sophomore and Senior pairs went head-to-head. Ultimately, the Sophomore team crumbled under the pressure, with the Senior team snagging yet another win for their class.
Dance Moves:
The third challenge was the “Dance Moves” game, where, once again, two guys and two girls from each team played. The rules for the game were that all players had to gallop around in a tight circle until the host called for a random pose that had to be completed as fast as possible. The last partnership to successfully complete the selected pose would be eliminated, continuing until only one pairing remained. Almost immediately, the Freshmen lost one of their pairings during a lovers’ leap challenge, followed by the Juniors during the second round. The game continued until only one set of Senior, Sophomore, and Junior players remained, with the Senior pairing being the first to go. In the final moments of the game, the tension between players was palpable, with the Sophomores completing their final move just in the nick of time before the Juniors. This marked the Sophomores’ first win of the night, causing the Juniors to confront their team, arguing it was a bad call and that they actually won. In the end, the Sophomores were awarded the points, despite the protests from the competitive Juniors.
Junkyard:
Following the epic upset of the “Dance Moves” challenge was the ever-so-tedious game of “Junkyard,” in which each team takes turns running across the gym to snag an item, before running back and tagging in the next player in line. The next player then has to carry both that item and an additional object back and forth. The activity gets progressively more difficult, as each player is expected to carry an additional item every lap; the only way to win is to successfully carry all items back to home base without dropping one. Before the game even kicked off, the Seniors’ bleachers went head-to-head with the Freshmen’s bleachers in a competitive fan chant-off, with the Seniors teasing the underclassmen with a cliché “I can’t hear you” chant. Early on, the Juniors faced major setbacks, as their team kept fumbling and dropping their items nonstop, leading to a mess and confusion over what they successfully brought back. The Sophomores were able to keep things clean and ended up winning first place, snagging their second win of the night. The Juniors made a miraculous comeback, focusing on the game and winning second place, followed by the Freshmen and a massive upset by the Seniors who came in last place—a defeat whose wails still echo the halls a week later.
Box Stacking:
A new BotC entry introduced this year was the box stacking challenge, referred to on the point board as “Thinking.” The goal of the game is to strategically stack your team’s boxes as fast as possible without any falling. The box stacking activity has seemingly replaced the classic, yet controversial, “Trivia” game, where teams were previously allowed to consult both the crowd and the internet for answers. The Trivia game turned contentious fast as each class pointed the finger at each other for allegedly “cheating,” so it’s no mystery why they chose to axe it this year. The Juniors ended up making yet another massive win, followed by the Sophomores, then the Seniors, and finally the Freshmen. It’s yet to be determined whether this new activity is here to stay, as there were still some expected complaints from the losing grades, but it sure was fun to watch.
Tug-of-War:
The next activity finally allowed for the Seniors to assert their upperclassmen dominance—despite their earlier stray from victory—as each grade went head-to-head in a strenuous battle of Tug-of-War. The Senior and Freshmen girls were first up, with an early and predicted win for the Seniors. As expected, the final round for the girls came down to the Seniors and Juniors, with the Seniors ultimately claiming the win due to both their brawn and the enthusiastic encouragement of the rest of their team. Next up were the boys, with the Seniors and Freshmen facing off in a swift skirmish that seemed to be over in a millisecond. Senior boys appeared to get a little cocky, mocking the premature loss of the Freshman boys and losing sportsmanship points in the eyes of the audience, despite their technical win. A major upset reverberated through the gym as the Sophomore underdogs beat the Junior boys, solidifying their spot in the final round against the Senior boys. The Seniors ultimately pulled through, beating the Sophomores, but their win wasn’t easy, as the unexpected pushback from the Sophomores’ strength wiped off any lingering cocky smirks from the Senior boys.
Balloon Pop:
The final game before the main event was the infamously frustrating “Balloon Pop” Challenge, where each grade had to send one member at a time to run across the gym and sit on a colored balloon to pop it. The colored balloons—red, white, orange, and green—designated which ones each grade had to pop. Though the rules sound simple enough, the game gets tedious quickly, as some of the balloons happen to be more stubborn to pop than the others. As faculty members poured the array of balloons, favoritism accusations were rampant, as there appeared to be a coincidental cluster of red ones, fueling the idea that it was rigged for the Freshmen to win. In the end though, the Sophomores were the first to pop all of their white balloons, followed by the Juniors, the Seniors, and once again in last place, the Freshmen, whose defeat promptly put any “favoritism” rumors to rest.
Lip-Sync Battles:
At last, the conclusion of the balloon pop challenge marked the most anticipated event of the night: the FTHS signature Lip-Sync Battle competition. Unlike all the other activities, the Lip-Sync Battle is an opportunity for each grade to have its own moment under the spotlight, as the other teams sit down and watch. Each grade takes its turn performing a tightly packed, choreographed dance routine that often highlights cultural trends from the past year and capitalizes on topical internet references. Once again, the teams performed in grade order, with the Freshmen setting the precedent, followed by the Sophomores, Juniors, and the climactic grand finale by the Seniors.
First in line to show off their Lip-Sync Battle skills were the Freshmen, who opened with a flip to Rihanna’s “S&M.” Shortly after, the boys performed a shockingly funny and sassy dance to “Lip Gloss” by Lil Mama, followed by a hysterical Pitbull cosplay, with “Fireball” echoing in the background. For the climax of their performance, both the boys and girls joined together to lip-sync a cathartic tribute to “Since U Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson, earning fan chants from the Freshmen bleachers. After a brief nod to Wicked’s “Defying Gravity” with Swiffer brooms as props, the girls performed a solo dance number to “Pon de Replay” by Rihanna before the boys joined back in, waving around their team flags and amassing cheers for their performance. All in all, the Freshmen put on a not-too-shabby BotC debut and garnered anticipation for what their promising routine will look like next year.
With a callback to their costume theme, the Sophomores kicked off their routine with an epic Star Wars-inspired entrance. Some highlights included a nod to the 2016 Mannequin Challenge as “Black Beatles” by Rae Sremmurd played in the background, as well as a girly number by the boys to “I Say a Little Prayer” as they combed their hair and checked their nails. Another pinnacle moment was the Stranger Things reference, where the team lifted one of their girls to imitate the iconic scene where Max levitates with headphones on to “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush. Ending with yet another reference, this time to Britney Spears’ historic “Slave 4 U” performance with the bleached blonde hair and snake around her neck, the Sophomore team undoubtedly pulled through and made their mark on a competition that typically doesn’t fare well for underclassmen.
Shortly after the Sophomores’ performance, it was the Juniors’ time to shine, as they posed in formation, beginning with an ominous masked number. They quickly earned some pop-culture brownie points as they re-enacted the infamous Coldplay kiss cam incident from this past summer and followed it up with an Ariana Grande medley with beats from “bloodline” and “needy” by the pop-singer. The guys and girls partnered up and performed a laid-back rendition of “You’re the One That I Want” from Grease, with the boys swinging the girls back and forth, and the ladies feigning swoons from the camaraderie. The Juniors honored their Nightmare Before Christmas costume theme from earlier in the BotC festivities with a track from the film before wrapping up their routine with the masks again, to an eerie Purge alarm ringing, concluding on a creepy yet impressive note.
Wrapping up the night with insurmountable pressure on them was the Seniors, who began their routine with a smug adlib of “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar and a series of impressive flips—their signature move throughout the night. The boys showed off their versatility as they performed a sensual number to “The Hills” by The Weeknd and followed the smoking act with a wholesome Hula dance to “Hawaiian Rollercoaster Ride.” One of the Class of 2026’s most well-received bits from last year’s BotC was their Kordell–Love Island reference, with the boys jumping in a circle, holding suitcases. The girls were able to successfully one-up that reference once again this year, with the famous and endlessly meme-able Amaya quote heard around the world this summer: “I Never said I was perfect. I never said I didn’t have any flaws…”. The Seniors also paid homage once again this year to the Wicked buzz with a propped performance of “Defying Gravity.” BotC night ended on a bittersweet note, as the Seniors took turns hanging up FTHS sports gear and uniforms on a clothing rack and holding up their baby pictures as “Good Riddance” by Green Day played sentimentally in the background, landmarking their final BotC participation before graduation.
The tension and anticipation were high as judges calibrated the results—but ultimately, the Juniors pulled through and earned first place for BotC with 76 points. Sophomores followed close behind in second place with 73 points, then Seniors with 65 points. In last place, but having made a valiant effort, were the Freshmen with 32 points. Such a bitter loss for the Seniors hasn’t been felt in years, as it’s practically tradition that the senior class always pulls through for first place. But this year proved more than any BotC prior that truly anything can happen and that the upperclassmen should never be too cocky about their predicted win.
With such a shocking ending to the 2025 Battle of the Classes, it’s nearly impossible to predict how next year will fare, but until then…May the best class win!
