Under the brilliant lights of Eagles Stadium, football players hit the field, plays memorized, muscles stretched, energy levels on high, ready to defeat their opponents. But this October 7th game was not the typical football match. The players were all female students in grades nine through twelve competing in a Homecoming –week tradition: the annual Powderpuff football game. With the inter-grade rivalries reaching a boiling point, the Class of 2014 handed the Class of 2013 a stunning defeat, taking home Powderpuff glory.
As a contest that is as much about class pride as it is about sport itself, there is no surprise that Powderpuff players and supporters arrived decked out in head-to-toe white, yellow, black, or red. A few minutes before kick-off, the players could be seen running last-minute practices, tightening up any loose ends. After all, they take the competition seriously.
“Yes, we are going to win,” asserted Ms. Millhouse, the Media Center Instructional Assistant and head coach of the Senior Powderpuff team. In her second year coaching the Class of 2013, Milhouse said that, in order to prepare, girls were registered earlier and practices were more organized. Plays were drawn up by male students who acted as assistant coaches. “I think they got [the plays] from Madden or something,” Milhouse commented.
All of those involved, male or female, noted that their participation was driven by a common love for the sport of football. “I don’t like any other sport but football,” said Nida Yousfe (’14), a second-time member of the junior team, who played quarterback and wide receiver.
Yousfe went on to state, “I have a really, really strong feeling that we’re going to win.”
That strong feeling was proven accurate by the end of the night. In game one, sophomores versus freshmen, the older students won, 7 to 0. In the upperclassmen match, the juniors, led by star player Aliya Cherry (’14), beat the seniors 13 to 12. This lost stung for the Class of 2013, who had been reigning Powderpuff champions for two years running. The team was able to save face in a consolation match, were it defeated the freshmen 20 to 12.
At the end of the night, the juniors took home the title of Queens of the Gridiron, beating the sophomores by a wide margin, 20 to 6. Will they keep the title or suffer a senior defeat? Students will have to wait until Homecoming season returns to find out.
