Weber State University hosted a pep rally at The Junction in downtown Ogden Monday evening. Students and community members alike came out to support the WSU football team.

“It helps to have events in the community,” said David Wilson, WSU student body president. “A lot of community members and alumni come. It’s a great event, and Ogden is great for stepping up and helping us throw it.”

The pep rally was thrown to help build students’ WSU pride and let them know about the football team’s game against the University of California, Sacramento on Sept. 28 at 6 p.m. An enthusiastic Jody Sears, football head coach, introduced the senior football players, team captains and eight coaches.

The team captains voiced their appreciation for the support they receive from WSU students and how the football team feeds off of the crowd’s energy at the games.

“This is the student body team . . . it is not just the football team, and it’s not an isolated thing,” Sears said. “I want the student body to feel the love that we have for them. We feed off of their energy. Our energy level goes up when our student body is behind us.”

The cheerleaders showed their support for the WSU football team before and after Sears spoke.

“I think the pep rally helps build relationships with the fanbase and the community,” Sears said. “It gives the community and the people time to interact with our players, as well as build a sense of community and pride.”

After Sears’ speech, the football team gave away prizes, such as footballs signed by Sears and WSU football season tickets, to people in the audience.

“The purpose of the pep rally is spreading Weber love down in Ogden, thus the painting the ‘W’,” said Cortney Woodfield, senior and programing vice president for the WSU Student Association. “The pep rally has been at The Junction for a few years now. Before then it was held at 25th and Kiesel.”

Though the crowd was not as large as turnouts at earlier pep rallies, WSU still showed its pride by painting a purple ‘W’ in The Junction, directly east from the Megaplex. This is the first year that students also painted another purple ‘W’ on 25th Street and Kiesel Avenue.

“It’s a cool tradition,” Wilson said. “People will drive by and see it. It stays on the road for a good amount of time. It’s awesome that the community lets us come in and paint that part of the road, and then it wears off eventually.”

In conjunction with the pep rally, businesses surrounding The Junction offered discounts to WSU students. Flowrider and iRock offered WSU students a two-for-one deal in support of the pep rally. Santa Monica Pizza and Pasta offered WSU students a free drink with any purchase. FatCats offered a special WSU pass for $7, which included two games of bowling, one round of bumper cars or glow golf, and 20 tokens for the arcade. After the pep rally, WSU students were able to feed their sweet tooth at Ye Olde Cupcake Shoppe, which offered 15 percent off all purchases.

“I absolutely love the community and the support that it brings to our program,” Sears said. “Not just my program, but all of the sport programs.”