“Who are we going to beat?” asked Heritage High School Principal Andy Parsons, sporting a Homecoming headband and blue and gold face paint.

“Antioch!” the packed crowd of Patriots replied with cheers and screams at the school’s Homecoming rally last Friday. Parsons amped up the students with the call and response routine, and the chanting must have worked because the Patriots beat Antioch High’s Panthers 42-19 later that night.

But before the varsity team took the field, the Heritage populace gathered for the second Homecoming celebration in the school’s history. The cheers of the students, accompanied by the pounding of the thunder sticks supplied to each student before the rally, rocked the Patriots’ gym as cheerleaders performed tumbles, “maleleaders” pranced with streamers and the dance crew worked the crowd. Seniors participating in fall sports were honored during the event and tossed candy to the crowd, but the loudest cheers went to the varsity football team, which walked onto the basketball court with their thunder sticks crossed to make an “X” for Class of 2010.

However, even louder were the screams and cheers that followed the unveiling of David Hauser and Elysia Cook as Homecoming King and Queen.

Cook said she was surprised by her win, as she and Hauser are “band geeks” who play “underappreciated sports” – Cook playing tennis and Hauser golf.

“The entire Homecoming experience was surreal for me,” Cook said. “I don’t think it’s completely registered in my head yet. I was shocked to be nominated, let alone get voted into the royal court and then end up as queen. As cliché as it sounds, I’m completely honored and grateful to all of the people who supported me.”

Cook said the moment was so dreamlike that she didn’t even realize she’d won when opening her box to uncover the yellow rose, signifying her win.

“When I opened my box and found the yellow rose, to be honest, at first I thought it was a white rose that was slightly yellow from being in the box too long. Lame, right?” Cook recalled. “It didn’t really process in my brain until the other girls started hugging me and congratulating me and the crown was put on my head. My friends told me later that people were screaming and cheering and yelling my name, but during that moment – I don’t recall any of it. It was like a moment out of a movie.”

Hauser experienced similar disbelief: “I actually thought that I had lost when I saw the yellow rose because I thought that the white rose would indicate winning, but as I was looking around, I was hoisted up in the air by a couple of my friends, which told me who won.”

Hauser and Cook were joined by the rest of the royal court – Cody Cox, Garret Hernandez, Robert Uwaechie, Cyrus Blankenship, Kali Chirayunan, Korin Dizon, Meg Lyons and Nicole Vigil – at Heritage’s inaugural Homecoming parade later that evening at the Streets of Brentwood, where crowds gathered to enjoy class floats and performances by the marching band and cheerleading squads.

Hauser said appearing in the parade was his favorite part of being Homecoming King: “The whole experience was pretty cool. I think the best part was riding in the cars around the parade and having all eyes on me. I pretty much felt like an actual king.”

Click here to view more photos and video of the Heritage Homecoming celebration.