High school football here in Central Georgia is big for many citizens, it’s a fun way for students and parents to come together after a long school and work week. For 13WMAZ reporter Cecily Stoute, she brings the games to the homes of fans who may have missed the games during her recap with Friday Night Lights.
Stoute is from Alpharetta, Georgia and graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Journalism and Communications. She is one of the reporters that hosts recaps of Central Georgia football games every Friday after all the games are over.
Journalism has always been an interest for Stoute, and she knew she either wanted to play soccer professionally or have a career reporting on the games.
The moment Stoute received the news that she would be joining the 13WMAZ family was during her final spring break at UGA. She was at a job fair where she met the person who is now her boss and was invited to the station to tour it and to meet the crew. She fell in love with the studio and accepted the job on the spot after being hired. She said this was a breath of fresh air after job searching for months before the job fair. Before joining 13, Stoute was still in school finishing her soccer career and her master’s degree.
Stoute travels to different high school football games to get footage for the “Friday Night Lights” show for the game recaps, and the week leading up to the game is full of everything but peace. She is assigned the game she will be covering either the day of or the day before, and her preparations consist of her making sure she has the right locations of the games, pronunciations of players names, and the team’s record. During the games she makes sure she is recording at the right time from the right angle for the best footage to go on TV. After she has all her footage and is back at the studio, she has limited time to edit the clips in the correct order, write out the script for what she wants to say and make sure her delivery is perfect.
Some of her most memorable moments in her career so far is being able to attend one of the SEC (southeastern conference) Football Championship Games in Atlanta. After seeing the behind the scenes of the ESPN Studio and the SEC Nation, she knew sports journalism was going to be her home.
Even with her love of sports, she said there are some downsides to reporting slow moving sports like baseball and soccer that are not as fun to report on like football is. These sports present hardships to get footage for, but the adversity makes a greater challenge and causes her to become more creative.
Stoute has been a reporter for 13 since July 2023 and is coming up on her third year of bringing the highlights of high school football to the homes of Central Georgia fans.
