South Haven News

By Claire Minor

Sept. 29 – Oct. 3, 2025, was South Haven School’s fall HOCO spirit week. This year’s theme was “Board Games”.

Monday was based on the game “Operation” where students and staff were to fake an injury. The halls were covered with painted on black eyes, wrapped body parts, wheelchairs, and crutches. Tuesday was based on the game “Guess Who?” where students and staff dressed up as celebrities, characters, or anyone they wanted which led people to guess who they are. 

Wednesday was based on the game “Battleship” and students and staff could dress up in USA or camo attire or both. 

Thursday was based on the game “Life” where elementary students dressed up old and JHHS dressed up young. 

Friday was based on the game “Trouble” and students and staff all wore purple and black Outlaw wear the the Homecoming game against the Ellinwood Eagles! 

These were the winners of the week:

Left to right: Lila Kupka, Scarlett Blaylock, Reed Blaylock, Tripp Theurer, River Billey, Sophia Trillo, Jayden Woodfin, Addison Betzen, Micah Aguilar, and Maddox Pond.

Like every fall Homecoming week, the school had its own in-school volleyball tournament. There were five teams made up of students and staff in the school all with their own team names Unfortunately, only one team created a team name. But anyways those teams were:

“Setsy and We Know It” with Cole Spencer, Maddox Pond, Antonio Trillo, Kody Wartick, Adele Helsel, Arallia Wartick, Brody Heater, and Madison Ferguson. 

Team #1 with Carissa Braddy, Emmalee Burden, Dax Dark, Eli Tompkins, Alana Grillot, and Xava Wiens. 

Team #2 with Jessica Broyles, Sydnie Goebel, Tennyson Dark, Alivia Irey, Sage VanZant, and Adalyn Irey. 

Team #3 with Makenzie Callison, Witney Goebel, Joey Nunley, Avery Strickland, Carley Russell, and Zane Aguilar.

Team #4 with Addison Heater, Coal VanZant, Landon Cullens, Ruger Shore, Anabelle Burden, and Dalton Kelly.

The winner of the Volleyball Tournament was “Setsy and We Know It”!

Friday was a big day! All high school students went to go and spray paint the streets first thing in the morning. 

When they were done they went straight to their designated spots and started building their floats!

This year, high school had a Powder Puff game. For those of you who don’t know, a powder puff game is where girls play flag football coached by boys. The teams were seven on seven and the seniors and sophomores were combined for their team and the juniors and freshmen were combined for their team. The team that ended up winning was the senior/sophomore team with a score of 0-18!

And you just can’t forget the biggest part of HOCO activities… THE HOCO FLOATS! All of the floats this year were good, but there was one that lapped them all. The winners this year were the Juniors!

To end the Friday off, all South Haven students and some Caldwell had a pep rally. At the pep rally they announced the winners of the HOCO dress-up days, HOCO float winners, and the HOCO candidates played a game. The game was definitely different from what anyone had ever seen before. The candidates from each class were split up so each girl and boy from each HS class were in a team plus the first grade attendants. As the male candidate put on a shower cap, a poncho, and put shaving cream on their head, both candidates had to keep a balloon in the air. Once they were done applying the shaving cream, each team had two minutes to get as many cheeto puffs on their heads as possible. They couldn’t tell who won the game so the cheerleaders got the crowd to cheer for which team they thought won. With that being said, the winners of the game were the first grade attendants Wyatt Brightup and Ray Stroman! 

Even though the Outlaws ended up losing the game, I would still consider HOCO week a success!

REMINDER: If you would like to stay up-to-date with the events that South Haven Schools are involved with, check out USD509 South Haven on Facebook/Instagram or https://www.usd509.org/!