Erika Castro selected as homecoming queen

Erika Castro was named as the 2008 Homecoming Queen during halftime of the 14-9 MHHS homecoming game, a victory over the Skyview Hawks.

Castro, standing on stage with her father, Asencion Castro, Jr., was overwhelmed and in tears while accepting her crown, her sash, a bouquet of roses and congratulatory hugs from her fellow nominees.

"I'm really happy to have won, I love all the girls who were nominated with me and thank you to everyone who voted for me," said Castro following the presentation.

"I'm overwhelmed, just speechless. Erika is a great kid, she's the love of my life," said Castro's father.

Before the week began, the students bared the cold weather and painted various windows of local businesses around town, including Paul's, Taco John's, Movie Gallery, Tony's Bicycle Shop and Smoky Mountain Pizza.

As Homecoming Week got underway, school hallways were decorated with a board game theme. The sophomores decorated their hallway based on Clue, the juniors on Candyland, the seniors on Monopoly and the annex on Twister.

The week's activities began with the Macho Man Volleyball match at the MHJHS gymnasium. Last year, the seniors were victorious, but this year the outnumbered juniors claimed victory, three games to one (17-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-23).

A notable character during the game was junior Damian Soliz, who donned a luchador mask and played the role of "Macho Libre," a take on the Jack Black movie character "Nacho Libre."

On Wednesday, a favorite homecoming tradition, the Powder Puff flag football game between the senior and junior girls, saw a game of trick plays and hard tackles.

The seniors scored first on a touchdown carry from Shayla Streeter and carried a 6-0 lead going into halftime.

The juniors scored in the third quarter, after a bad snap in the end zone, caused a safety to make the score seniors 6, juniors 2.

The juniors took the lead, following a touchdown carry from Irene Rankin making the score juniors 8 and seniors 6.

In the fourth quarter, the seniors were on their final drive, sparked by a unique trick play by quarterback Shayla Streeter.

A miscue by the junior coaching staff gave the seniors one final opportunity to score, and with 5.5 seconds left, the seniors scored the game-winning touchdown on Streeter's second TD carry, making the final score seniors 14, juniors 8.

"I think we came together as a team and did what we had to do to get the job done. The 2008 Powder Puff was a success for the seniors, just like it should be," said Streeter following the game.

The final day of activities during the week began with the Homecoming Assembly on Friday, highlighted by the crowning of the Homecoming King for 2008, Billy Derome.

MHHS Principal Jeff Johnson congratulated the students for their great participation and their school spirit during the week, "You've done a great job and I hope your excitement will carry through the rest of the year."

An assembly tradition, each class nominated male and female student recipients of the Spirit Stick, a stick used to rile up the students as they ran down the court on both the seniors/sophomores side and the juniors side.

The winners of the Spirit Stick were:

Teachers -- Mr. Tesar and Mrs. Chiarella.

Freshman -- Brittany Karst.

Sophomores -- Tim Sauerwald and Dakota Barrie.

Juniors -- Matt Kinney and Allison Wendell.

Seniors -- Sway Harner and Shayla Streeter.

The Mountain Home cheerleaders led the crowd in a mass "Tiger Beat" and spirit cheer. The spirit cheer was a challenge between the juniors and seniors to see which class had the most spirit, the end result was the seniors claiming victory by leaving the bleachers in bulk and standing together at center court, "proving" they were the more spirited class.

The Mountain Home Dance Team sparked the crowd with a performance to Michael Jackson's classic, "Beat It."

The cast of "The Magical Lamp of Aladdin" held a special performance for the students, telling the story of Aladdin, his monkey sidekick Alakazam and the beautiful Princess Jasmine, set to music by such artists as Whitney Houston, Ozzy Osbourne and Limp Bizkit.

In the class sketch competition, the sketch that took top honors was by the juniors, whose sketch set up a series of games between the Mountain Home Tiger and the Skyview Hawk (actually student Shelby Posey, wearing a tattered shirt that read Skyview).

The Tigers claimed victory in Monopoly, Twister and in a round of Clue, entitled "Who Killed Skyview?"

A notable sketch during the assembly was put on by the MHHS Alumni, in a round of Tiger Feud, a parody of the game show Family Feud. Three alumni played for MHHS (one wearing a Tiger mask) and four alumni members played for Skyview wearing Barack Obama, John McCain and Hillary Clinton masks, and one who donned wings to play the role of the Skyview Hawk.

The Seniors followed with a sketch that told the tale of Hawk (played by Smith) who taught the game of football to a town led by the evil dictator Hawk, and how with the help of Tiger and their newfound game, they overcame Hawk's dictatorship.

The Homecoming King announcement at the assembly required the four finalists (Derome, Jesse Donez, Chris Maholick and Tallon Pauley) to run a unique obstacle course that featured dizzy bats, hula hoops and having each finalist hop on one leg and pat both their head and their chest while negotiating a series of cones.

The course ended with each finalist dunking for an apple in buckets of milk and the one who found the apple was announced as the Homecoming King. In the end, Derome was named Homecoming King, to his amazement while getting congratulations from his fellow finalists.

Superintendant Tim McMurtrey announced the winning classes for the week. Despite the juniors taking top honors for Best Sketch, the seniors won for Best Hallway, Best Window Decoration and Class Spirit.

McMurtrey was one of five judges for the competitions, including MSgt. Richard Lee and his wife, Trudie, Shawna Draper (1983 alumni) and Jennifer Yonker (1990 alumni).

The day's events concluded with the Homecoming Parade, a celebratory romp through town passing Hacker Middle School handing out candy to the crowds of young Tiger fans.

The parade featured decorated floats by the students and assistance from the Idaho National Guard, as well as the Mountain Home fire and police departments.

The bleachers for the homecoming game were decorated in grand fashion commemorating the week's events and were packed with fans in orange and black regalia.

The halftime show featured the Queen ceremony where each finalist (Castro, Amy Hymer, Katrina Hodgerson, and Lauren Borgholthaus), arrived on stage in golf carts with their fathers and a musical performance (based on Cirque Du Soleil) by the Mountain Home Junior High School band.

Following the game, the homecoming dance was the grand finale to a spirited week of activities. During the dance, the remaining members of the royal court were announced. The winners were:

Prince--Brock Morris.

Princess--Lindsay Sessions.

Duke--Colton Zamora.

Dutchess--Jessica Liercke.

"It's been a great week, our kids stepped up and did such a great job. Erika is a great recipient for Homecoming Queen, she embodies what MHHS is all about, but that also goes for the all of the girls who were nominated," said Johnson.