As homecoming season gets into full swing, the school’s annual traditions have returned, including the highly anticipated King of the Couch competition, where groups of three to four competitors will attempt to gardner enough student support to secure a spot on the sideline couch at the homecoming game, and this year’s competing seniors will get a feel for the tradition that they’ve been observing throughout their entire high school careers. Among the competitors is senior Luke Wallace, a “Dukebuster,” based on the classic 1984 film “Ghostbusters”, who has looked forward to the opportunity to compete for years.

“Two years ago when there was the Darth Dukes versus the Duke Skywalkers, I had a thought of ‘that could be me’,” Wallace said. “It’s fun to represent York and keep up the school spirit, throwing candy, dressing up. It’s really fun to be a part of.”

Raising school spirit is a driving factor and motivator for several competitors, despite challenges that have presented themselves along the way. For senior Taylor Tresnak of the “Barbie Dukes,” based off of the famous toy’s movie over the summer, the adversity only helps his competitive side.

“We’re really going to have to crank [spirit] up to high gear these next four to five weeks to give students everything they should’ve had from the beginning,” Tresnak said. “And there’s other obstacles too, like there’s only three groups this year. But that’s just more attention on us, which isn’t a bad thing, and I definitely feel like we could pull the weight of two or three more groups.”

The small number of groups hasn’t gone unnoticed by any of the competitors, it means something different for everyone. For senior and Dukebuster Caroline Fischer, it hardly makes a difference.

“There’s definitely more attention on everyone individually, and sort of in a competitive aspect,” Fischer said. “But everybody else probably knows all of the groups, and it was going to be like that no matter what groups were there or how many there are, so it doesn’t really change anything.”

The original calendar for the year had Homecoming scheduled significantly earlier than the current date of October 21, but had to be moved to accommodate long weekends and holidays, which some claim to have been poorly communicated.

“I really don’t know why the administration didn’t communicate to the students better,why it was pushed back, and how it would affect the tradition,” Tresnak said. “I’ve been getting a lot of flak from people asking why it’s so different, and my response is always that it isn’t our fault, and I don’t like to be the guy that blames everything on the school, I think that’s counterproductive for spirit.”

Despite challenges with the schedule, Student Council adviser Matt Moran and the rest of Student Council and those that have planned the event have been moving forward with an impromptu business as usual attitude.

“It was just kind of a series of unforeseen factors,” Moran said. “But that decision was based on the administration, it wasn’t up to [Student Council], and that had to do with the fact that we had a lot of away games, it all just didn’t work. We also had a few more groups, but they had to drop out, probably because it was too long of a commitment.”

All in all, despite challenges, the tradition is alive and thriving for those that choose to participate, including senior Marissa Cedillo of the Lorax Dukes, who draw inspiration from the 2012 animated movie, who has described the competition as an unforgettable experience.

“Everyone has been very kind and we’ve competed with such amazing people,” Cedillo said. “Even if we’re competing, we’re all working together in a way to make it more fun for ourselves and each other, while we’re all trying to win it all for ourselves.”