Plains High School Homecoming comes to an end

PLAINS – The 2013 Homecoming festivities in Plains kicked off on Wednesday as the football, volleyball and cross country teams took their places atop fire engines and paraded their way through the downtown area.

Athletes and coaches waved to the crowd before returning to the high school for the traditional bonfire and burning of the opponent’s effigy.

As sirens sounded and horns trumpeted from a multitude of fire trucks, athletes chanted school fight songs to the applause of the approving crowds that came out of shops and restaurants to cheer on the home teams. The football team carried with them a large model painted to resemble the mascot of their cross county rivals, the Thompson Falls Bluehawks who they played Friday night.

Upon returning to the high school parking lot after their tour of adoration through Plains, athletes and supporters gathered around a 15-foot high stack of logs, wooden palettes and other assorted flammable materials.

As the Bluehawk effigy was placed atop the pyre, local firefighters ignited the structure with flares and within minutes flames were shooting 30 feet into the air. As the flames continued to swallow the pile, Suzy Vonheeder summoned the crowd to a nearby stage for the introduction of the teams from Plains.

The Trotters volleyball team was the first to be introduced by Head Coach Kim Earhart followed by cross country Head Coach Tony Banovich and his team of distance runners. Last to be recognized was the Plains Horsemen football team by Head Coach Juan Lulack.

The crowd cheered as the names of the players on the team were announced. Lulack concluded the pep rally by thanking the fans and urging them to come out and support the team at the 2013 Plains High School football game on Friday.

Plains homecoming festivities came to an end Thursday as the students competed in various events to test the skills of the different classes. The students tried to incorporate this year’s theme “Hunger Games” into some of the events.

“We thought Hunger Games was more original than what we had come up with in years past,” said Student Council President Keely Benson. “Ideas in the past have been simple but not as creative.”

Taking a whole different take on “Hunger Games,” a new event added to this year’s activities was a hot wing-eating contest. Students had various wing flavors that continued to get hotter and hotter. After eating the wings students had to sprint across the football field, return to the table, and chug a box of milk to complete the challenge.

The events proved pivotal to the crowning of homecoming king and queen.

“What we do is score all the points here today (from the Olympics) and each class gets however many points and then we have the vote,” said social studies teacher Ken Nelson. “The points are then added with the votes and you get your king and queen.”

Nelson and the rest of the teachers got a chance to sit back and let the students run the games.

“We are here to supervise,” Nelson said “If they go off the rails we drive them on. They always underestimate how long these things take and how much planning goes into it. It’s a good learning experience.”

The big events of the day were powder-puff football and boy’s volleyball. Nelson said that all week students get a chance to showcase their competitive spirit in preparing for the two most important events.

“It builds toward this event,” Nelson said. “They take powder-puff and boy’s volleyball seriously. It’s bragging rights and of course their points are added to the vote.”

Those rights went to the senior class this year winning the overall competition total with 40 points throughout the week. The seniors were able to capture the king and queen game, musical chairs, skiing, the hospital bed race, the hallway decoration and the class cheer earning their points. Following the seniors in the weeks points race were the sophomores with 32 points, the freshmen with 27 points, and following close behind were the juniors with 25 points, which concluded the weeklong homecoming celebration.

The points from each class were added with the voting totals for homecoming king and queen. The honor of being Plains homecoming king went to James Rulison who received 55 votes. Homecoming queen went to Jade LaDeaux who received 50 votes.

The week concluded a successful and safe homecoming for Plains High School.