Some words that come to mind when “homecoming” is heard are words like dancing, king and queen, cheesy proposals, hot gyms, Friday night football games and parades. Unfortunately due to bad weather, SHS had to cancel this year’s homecoming parade for the first time since 2001. Nevertheless, students’ spirits were not dampened.

SHS’s theme for the homecoming game against Bloomington South was retro night, so as people walked into Perry Stadium, it was scattered with students rocking flannels, jean jackets, old rock band shirts and very high waisted jeans.

One student who was showing a ton of school spirit was senior, Brett Wright. Wright is in the student booster club. He is normally seen at football games leading the student section in cheers. On the night of the homecoming game, Wright was sporting a pair of jean booty shorts with a blonde, mullet wig and an american flag bandana wrapped around his head.

Wright did his usual job as booster club officer, and that job was to get the student section hyped. To him, it wasn’t that much different from any other home game.

“I wouldn’t say the student section is so much different, it’s just the atmosphere fans coming back,” Wright said. “You see a lot of familiar faces that have graduated. There are people that come back and see what Southport is like now and hopefully we did a good job.”

Alumni coming back to visit their high school is in fact the main point of homecoming. So it seems pretty fitting that retro night was chosen to be the theme for the game because both homecoming and retro night are meant to pay a tribute to the past.

Aside from welcoming back alumni, another big tradition nearly everyone knows about is the crowning of the homecoming king and queen. This year’s candidates were seated on the track and cheered on SHS’s football team until they were all announced at halftime and the winners would be crowned.

To some students, the idea of being in front of a stadium full of people watching you walk across a field while the announcer is reading off a bunch of personal information about you sounds nerve racking. However, candidates Jason Weaver and Christy Dean say it’s not. They both say it was a fun experience because they were all good friends with each other and that winning or losing didn’t matter to them.

The title of homecoming king and queen was given to Lane Scutt and Heather Blankenbaker after SHS’s marching band finished the last part of their musical rendition of “The Tell Tale Heart.”

“It’s awesome,” Scutt said. “I ran up against some of my long time friends and it was good to win.”

After the king and queen were named, the second half of the game presumed and SHS lost 48-35.