Ridge Cheerleaders Ready for Pre-Game Events at Tonight's Ridge vs. Immaculata Game

About 60 Ridge High School cheerleaders will have their own role in Friday night's televised varsity football game between the Ridge Red Devils and the Immaculata Spartans.

All levels of cheerleaders, from freshmen to varsity, will assist at a pre-game event hosted by MSG Varsity television, which will kick off a new Friday night football series on Cablevision's Channel 14.

"They're nervous but excited about being on television," said cheerleading coach Vivian Scaturro. She said the 28 varsity cheerleaders have created their own routines for tonight's game.

"They have their own MSG cheer," Scaturro said. The cheerleaders will be on the sidelines when the game kicks off at 7 p.m. 

About 30 cheerleaders have promised to start their own day at 6:20 a.m., when they were planning to hand out energy bars, water bottles and pencils to promote Universal Cheerleading Association's Spirit Day as students enter Ridge High School to start their day, Scaturro said.

She said 62 cheerleaders from all grade levels are expected to report at about 4:45 p.m. to hand out giveaways from MSG Varsity and offer face painting to children who enter a large tent scheduled to be put up by MSG Varsity, she said.

Before the game begins, the cheerleaders also will be conducting a food drive at the gate to collect nonperishable foods and other donations for the Somerset County Food Bank, she said.

And somewhere before all that, the girls are planning to fit in a final practice, Scaturro said.

"They're perfectionists," she said. All anyone has been talking about all week is the televised event. An MSG Varsity spokeswoman said the game and 6:30 p.m. pre-game show will be shown on Cablevision's channel 14.