Rainy weather and a rough night on the field for the Pirates football team didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of Vashon High School (VHS) students, families, staff and community members who gathered under Friday night lights for the VHS homecoming game on Friday, Oct. 21.

At halftime, student royalty stepped to the field to be crowned and then embarked on a madcap parade around the track on whimsically-decorated vehicles.

Hazel Nielsen and Will Henley, freshman princess and prince, took their ride on a bicycle built for two, while classmates of sophomore princes Theo Hughes and Hunter Stroble laboriously pushed the pair around the track in a wobbly toy Barbie car, sized for toddlers.

Camden Monson and Danny Alvarez, junior princes, had a smoother ride on a large tricycle.

River Morales and Max Pearson, taking home the title of senior kings, appropriately had the most luxurious ride, in the back of a golf cart.

The gender mix of royalty — with multiple princes and kings — reflected a new selection process at the school this year in which students were nominated, consented to be on the ballot, and were then voted on by their grade levels.

“We really enjoyed our homecoming week at VHS,” said principal Danny Rock. “Our ASB (Associated Student Body) was well prepared all week long, and our student engagement was outstanding.”

Rock said that 400 students gathered for the homecoming dance on Saturday night, making it the best-attended dance during his time as principal of VHS.

For the football team — who suffered a 71-0 loss to Life Christian — the night was a bruising setback in one of the best Pirate seasons in years if not decades. The homecoming rout, however, was somehow softened by an electrical problem.

“The scoreboard suffered a breaker failure at the pole itself and we were not able to resolve it during the game, despite many different attempts to do so,” said Rock. “Our director of facilities, Kevin Dickerson, was on site almost immediately after the failure, to work with Mr. Sears and me on the problem. A silver lining may have been that we were spared the experience of seeing 71-0 as the final score of the game in lights.”

The team — currently standing at five wins and two losses for the season — will have a chance to get its groove back at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, as the Pirates travel to play Life Christian Academy, at Mount Tahoma High School.