CENTER — With two sacks, four solo tackles, five assisted stops, and the Homecoming King title, senior Joaquin Moreno was royal for Center High School on Oct. 15. Capping off the coronation at halftime along with fellow Senior Jenice Almeida, Moreno helped give the Vikings a 40–35 victory over the visiting Del Norte Tigers.

From the opening kickoff to the Tigers, the home squad took charge. The Vikings recovered a fumble on the visitors’ first drive, followed quickly with the first touchdown of the game. They immediately pounced on another fumble from the ensuing kickoff and marched down the field to make the score 14–0.

Del Norte scored twice to enter intermission down 27–13.

Before announcing the full list of Homecoming Royal Court nominees, cheerleaders of all ages performed at halftime. Although the game had to be postponed from Friday evening because they could not assemble a full officiating crew, it gave the veteran cheerleaders a chance to practice more with the younger girls. Their performance went off without a hitch, followed by the coronation of class royalty nominees.

Rather than choose a single king and queen for the school, the Vikings nominate four girls and four boys for each class, a total of 32. Freshmen nominees included Laynie Gallegos, Alejandro Puntes, Alyciana Lujan, Ruben Rendone, Dulce Palma, Chayse Bouet, Leilany Soto, and Miguel Hernandez. Palma and Bouet won placement in the royal court.

For the sophomore class, Mia Maez and Nick Palma-Duran won the royal honors. Sophomore nominees also included Ahyari Fimbres, Andree Meraz, Gia Hammel, MJ Varo, Ximena Miranda, and Marco Aguilar. Willa Seez-Sanchez and Jordan Duran represented the Junior class, stepping in front of fellow nominees Monserrat Gutierrez, Javy Ramos-Baca, Kimberly Muro-Ornelas, Francisco Villa, Ciara Paiz, and Lorenzo Trujillo.

Queen Almeida high-fived Moreno before they received their crowns. Alan Gonzalez, Alica Pedro-Lopez, Kamryn Garcia, Cruz Reyes, Alreth Villalobos, and Miguel Casanova also received nominations among senior Vikings.

To start the second half, Del Norte put another 22 points on the board. But the Vikings held the visitors scoreless in the final quarter to win 40–35. Center covered more all-purpose yards by the end of the game, finishing with 591 (207 more than the Tigers).

With three wins and four losses, the Vikings will travel to Monte Vista to face the undefeated Pirates on Oct. 21 at 6 p.m. On Saturday afternoon, Del Norte (2–5) will host the winless Trinidad Miners at 1 p.m.