(WSB photos by Patrick Sand. Above, WSHS #84, Colin Roman)

Much more than football last night at Southwest Athletic Complex as West Seattle High School hosted Liberty HS from Renton on Homecoming Night.

The game brought the Wildcats their second loss, 63-27. Two of the WSHS TDs featured Nate Pryor (#3, above) running almost the entire length of the field. Before the game, he was among the seniors honored from the team, band, flag, and cheer squads:

WSHS head coach Tom Burggraff was also among the proud parents escorting a senior – his son, Andrew Burggraff (also among those with TDs in the game), will graduate this year:

Assistant coach Jeff Ursino is also proud dad of a senior, John Ursino.

If there were an award for the most candy leis given to a senior as part of the celebration, Billy Dee Abbott would have won:

Congratulations to all the seniors! (added Sunday – see list at end of story)

Also among those honored at the pre-game ceremony, WSHS band member Maxwell Lemke, below with dad Maxwell:

You might recall Max’s story here on WSB two months ago – he led the fundraisers to get a new tuba for the band, which performed on the field at halftime, conducted by WSHS music director Ethan Thomas:

You can see the band later this month leading the costume parade during the West Seattle Junction Harvest Festival at 11:30 am Sunday, October 30th.

Another memorable music moment happened before the game, when the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” was sung before “Star-Spangled Banner.” You’ll hear part of the song in our Twitter clip:

The anthems followed a statement read over the PA system about respecting all views. WSHS athletic director Trevor Leopold told us later that this was initiated by players, who said that if both anthems were sung, they would remain standing for both. (This followed three weeks of anthem protests during home games at SWAC, starting on September 16th, when the pre-announced protest by visiting Garfield HS was joined by more than half a dozen WSHS players.)

Next Friday brings the annual crosstown contest, WSHS vs. Chief Sealth International High School, 7 pm October 14th.

ADDED SUNDAY MORNING: Thanks to athletic director Leopold for the full list of seniors honored Friday night:

BAND

Kevin Corona
Connor Dederich
Erin LeBreche
Kylie Leinbach
Maxwell Lemke
Leo Purcell
Ben Schuh
Brynn Snodgrass
Lindy Tongol
Drew White

CHEER

Riley Fredricks
Xavier Marquez
Malaika Nettey

FOOTBALL

Nate Pryor
Billy Dee Abbott
Liam O’Neill
Rico Saeteum
James Blue
Cyrus Storlie
Sergei Dahl
Gabe Gangon
Holden Watkins
Sam Blackett
Trifon Papahronis
Maks Milojevich
Michael Gordan
Binh` Nguyen
Daniel Puckett
Caden Snodgrass
Demitrius Isabell
Dustin Davis
John Ursino
Ali Abdulah
Andrew Burggraff
Mathias Fink