Escalon High students are “Soaring Around the World” this week and they are hoping the community will join them, especially on Oct. 3 for the downtown Homecoming Parade and the Friday night football game at Engel Field.

Fall Homecoming 2025 is in full swing, with Monday, Sept. 29 observed as “Passport Monday” on the school campus and “Tacky Tourist Tuesday” taking flight on Sept. 30. “International Sports Wednesday” is the focus on Oct. 1 with students encouraged to represent their favorite teams and athletes from around the world. It will be “Global Musician Thursday” on Oct. 2, and all students can dress as their favorite musical artist.

Finally, Oct. 3 will be “Eski Extreme Friday Purple and Gold” day, with students asked to “go all out” with purple and gold from head to toe.

The Homecoming Queen will be crowned during halftime of the Oct. 3 varsity football game and the nominees this year are seniors Jaqueline Aguayo, Riley Peavy, Ruth Jones, Skylar Anderson and Chloe Green. Serving as emcees at the Friday night crowning ceremony will be seniors Brianne Coelho and Ariella Partida.

The Homecoming celebration this week comes after the varsity football team captured a big win this past Friday night, retaining possession of the Vaca Bowl ‘Milk Can’ trophy by defeating the Hilmar Yellowjackets in a key Trans-Valley League contest. (See story in Sports, page A7.)

As part of the week’s festivities, there will be a school rally on Thursday afternoon and that’s when the underclassmen will see their royalty selected, with nominees at the junior, sophomore and freshman levels all vying for honors.

The juniors will see a Princess selected, the sophomores will see a Duchess chosen and the freshmen will see a Lady in Waiting selected. They will be part of special Homecoming court. Among the nominees are Emelia Jimenez, Payton Abbott and Mia Caton; Princess; Melanie Wright, Lori Brown and Lola Duenas, Duchess; Kinsley Villines and Cambria Morgan, Lady in Waiting.

Associated Student Body Advisor Seth Davis said the Homecoming Parade is on the schedule for Friday, Oct. 3; members of the EHS Class of ’85 – who are having their 40th reunion in conjunction with Homecoming – are being honored as this year’s Grand Marshals. The parade steps off at 2:30 p.m. Friday.

“As an alumnus, as a parent, I absolutely love Homecoming Week,” said Escalon Athletic Director and head varsity football coach Andrew Beam. “All the pageantry, from the parade to the crowning of the Queen.”

But, on the opposite side, he also dreads it as a coach, as it comes with plenty of distractions.

“Losses on Homecoming are hard to take,” he admitted.

For the players, their collective goal is to get a league win, take down Hughson and give the fans plenty to cheer about.

Getting a win over Hilmar, said sophomore Dylan Ball, helped to set the stage to get the next one.

“I just think that this game really showed what we’re capable of,” Ball said of the victory over Hilmar. “I’m really proud of the way we played.”

With many offensive and defensive weapons contributing to the win, Ball said it was great to see the work – and the accolades – spread around.

“Honestly, the most fun for me was watching everybody get the ball; I love watching everyone get the ball, I like everyone making tackles, I like everyone making plays … it’s just a really fun environment right now.”

Fellow sophomore Carter Yates, who had a touchdown reception, said the team played well for most of the game, letting down just a little at the end, and that’s something they will need to correct when they face Hughson.

“We just have to add a lot more energy,” he said of approaching the Homecoming contest. “Hughson’s going to come out looking to beat us.”

Senior quarterback Logan Huebner did it all, passing, running and receiving for touchdowns.

“I was really hungry for a win, last week was a tough week on my part (in a loss to Sonora) and I just wanted to show the town who I really am, get a win for this team to turn the corner,” Huebner said. “We’ve just got to come back with the same energy, the same intensity.”

Senior Luca Cerasi pointed to a strong week of work preparing for Hilmar in making the difference in retaining the Vaca Bowl trophy, and he expects that same type of drive in preparing for Homecoming.

“We had such good practices all week and we knew all week that we needed to keep the trophy at home,” Cerasi said. “This was a big game … we were super determined; we really just wanted it more at the end of the day.”

And with Homecoming looming on the horizon, coach Beam wants his team to come in with that same ‘want it’ mentality on Friday.

“They’re going to come out hungry,” Beam said of Hughson, which took a loss last week to Ripon Christian and, like Escalon, stands at 1-1 in Trans-Valley League play. “But our goal for Homecoming is to beat our rival on the football field.”

Kickoff will be at 7 p.m.