Five Escalon High School seniors will vie for the crown on Friday night, as the school’s student body will name a Homecoming King as part of the Winter Homecoming festivities.

The crowning will come at halftime of the varsity boys basketball game, with the Cougars playing host to Hilmar in the regular season Trans-Valley League finale for both schools.

Candidates are, in alphabetical order, Guillermo Alvarez, Kameron DeWeerd, Lucciano Dutra, Alex Jimenez and Jonathan Valeriano. The five were named on Friday morning, Feb. 1 and presented with their temporary crowns; one of them will receive the real crown on Friday night.

The festivities on Friday will also feature recognition for senior boys basketball players and cheerleaders, as it will be Senior Night for the Cougars as well as the 2019 Winter Homecoming.

Alvarez is the son of Gladys Martinez; DeWeerd is the son of Jenny DeWeerd. Dutra’s parents are Joe and Jill Dutra; Jimenez is the son of Fred Jimenez and Valeriano’s parents are Juan and Lupe Valeriano.

King candidates are typically escorted to center court by a variety of family members during the halftime festivities. The crown is traditionally presented by the Homecoming Queen – selected during the fall football season – and this year that is Hailie Webster.

Also, this week at Escalon High School, there are musical theme days: Monday was Snowglobe, Tuesday was Country Music Fest with Wednesday observed as Rolling Loud, Thursday is Coachella and Friday will be Cougar Fest.

Friday night will feature a trio of basketball games as part of the Homecoming celebration, starting with the freshmen tipping off at 4:30 p.m.; JV boys at 6 p.m. and the varsity game at 7:30 p.m.