This year’s Powderpuff football games were full of fun, excitement, and school unity to support breast cancer awareness. Although all the teams fought hard, the seniors would end up coming out on top, defeating the juniors in the final game with a score of 21-14.
The first game of the afternoon was the matchup of the heavily favored juniors squaring off with the deemed underdog freshmen. Freshmen recieved ball first at the beginning of the game, but as soon as their offensive possession began, the juniors had other ideas. A quick 4-and-out orchestrated by the lock down defense from the red army of juniors lead to a quick rushing touchdown by Cam Aaron. The juniors would do the same thing to the freshmen on the next possession, however this time the TD was run in by Zaynah Moen.
As soon as the new half started, junior Tatiana Traore took the kick back for a great return that would set up another junior TD. However, the freshmen came out in the start of the second half running. Quarterback Aviva Feldman led the team down the field with her QB scrambles, only to give the ball right back to the juniors after the stellar pass defense by cornerback Kristina Murphy. As the buzzer sounded, the class of 2017 prevailed, with a final score of 28-0.
Up next was the duel between the green machine sophomores and the powerhouse seniors. Just one play after the kick return, senior Brittany Fletcher took it to the house nearly field length to give the seniors a 7-0 lead early on in the contest. “It felt really good,”Fletcher said afterwards. “I wasn’t even supposed to start, but we ran ‘Jet Brittany’ which is the play we scored on during our pre-game practice.” After a messy kick return, the seniors downed sophomore Erin Ramos in her own end zone, which counted as a two-point safety, giving the seniors a 9-0 lead. Shortly before the half, quarterback and star player Devon Goetz gained her first rushing TD of the day, putting the seniors up 16-0. But as time ran down in the half, sophomore quarterback Meagan Palmaira hit Melanie Osborne on a slant route, which Melanie took all the way to shorten the lead to 16-7 at halftime.
On the third play from scrimmage in the second half, sophomore wildcat QB Nicole Silver (sister of senior coach Michael Silver) ran all the way for a 30 yard touchdown to cut the senior’s lead down to just 2 points at 16-14. The comeback was evident as Melanie Osborne picked off a pass, putting the sophomores in the red zone. However, a controversial call by referees Coach Rogers and Coach Eagleson led to the overturning of the turnover. The seniors would capitalize on their renewed opportunity, with Devon Goetz rushing for another TD to seal off a nail-biting senior victory with a score of 23-14.
After a sensational performance by the Boms, the championship game began. The heavily anticipated upperclassmen rivalry game started off with a Brittany Fletcher rushing TD, picking up where she left off against the sophomores. This was followed by lock down defense by the seniors, and then lock down defense by the juniors on the following possession, which led to a turnover that they class of 2017 recovered. As time ran out on the half, the score was just 7-0 in favor of the seniors.The first play from scrimmage of the second half was a rushing touchdown by the ever-so speedy Zaynah Moen to tie the contest up at 7-7. However, star quarterback Devon Goetz once again orchestrated a phenomenal drive, capping it off with a passing touchdown to regain the lead. But, the juniors wouldn’t go down without a fight. Cam Aaron stormed down the field to score another touchdown to retie the game. With the end of the game nearing, the seniors knew who they’d turn to. With just seconds left, Devon Goetz ran 40 yards to finish off the championship game, with a final of 21-14. With just seconds left on the clock, the juniors made a feeble attempt to return the kickoff to the end zone but were stopped short by the seniors’ defence. “The team played so well in the second game to really prevent the juniors from scoring,” said senior Sarah Morgan.
This game marks the first Powderpuff victory for the class of 2016. “I’m so proud of how we came together as a team to pull of the win,” senior Elizabeth Conway later remarked. “It was so exciting to come out as champs after three years of coming so close.”
But the seniors weren’t the only winners out on the field that night. Although admission to the game was free, the SGA estimates that roughly $500 was raised for charity, which was a big success for everyone involved.
Kevin Pan contributed to this article
