DECATUR - Ships and Sailors is a new twist on Simon Says that is guaranteed to clear a football field in no time flat.

St. Teresa High School is celebrating homecoming this week, and Friday was the big pep rally for students, a tailgate party in the evening and of course, the game against Tolono-Unity High School.

The theme for this year's homecoming was pirates, and in Ships and Sailors, everybody lines up as they would for Simon Says, but the commands are "ships" (run one way), "sailors," (run the other way), "man overboard," (one person lies face down and the other puts a foot on his back) and so on. If you hear "captain's coming!" you have to salute and not move until you hear "at ease," so a lot of students went out with that one if they obeyed the next command without waiting for "at ease" to sound first.

Seniors took most of the week's honors for dress-up days and school spirit, including the canned food drive. The senior class collected 2,236 cans, wiping out their nearest competitor, the sophomore class, which collected 1,094 cans. Counting the freshmen and juniors' contributions, St. Teresa students collected 4,205 items for the WSOY Community Food Drive.

Other community partners in the food drive are the Herald & Review, J.L. Hubbard Insurance & Bonds, Skeff Distributing, Archer Daniels Midland Co., Decatur Back & Neck Center, Jones & Thomas, Ticket-N-Trips and WAND-TV.

"All of your cooperation was not only appreciated, but needed," said teacher Arlis DeJaynes, as she announced the totals. "This community is in dire need of food for those who are less fortunate than we are."

Homecoming is fun, said Principal Ken Hendriksen, but it's also a chance to stir up school spirit and remind students that their academic and spiritual lives are both important to the adults who guide them through their high school years.

"We had hall decorating and different dress days and we did lots of different things," Hendriksen said. "The big thing is, we're going to have a Mass on the grass (the football field) on Sunday morning. We've brought our faith-based education into our extracurricular (activities), and it's brought everything together."

Tommy Eichenauer, a senior football player, wore a homemade orange cape emblazoned with his new nickname, "Hurricane Ike." He got the nickname at the game between St. Teresa and Maroa-Forsyth High School a couple of weeks ago.

"I just got a lot of yards," he said with a grin and a shrug.

vwells@herald-review.com|421-7982