Every year, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, girls prove that football is not just a boy’s game in the annual Powder-Puff Football game. The Powder-Puff Football game is a flag football game between junior and senior girls organized by the Student Council. On November 25, 2009, roughly 15 junior girls and 25 senior girls headed out to Turco field for the game.

In preparation for the big game, the girls held several practices to learn the basics of football. Throwing, catching, kicking, and blocking were all worked on during the practices. To be able to play in the game, each girl needed to attend at least two practices. A few junior and senior varsity football players, acting as coaches, attended one of the practices to aid their team in learning different plays.

 On the day of the game, the teams got to the field early to review their plays and practice with their coaches. Coaches for the junior team were juniors Troy Salvatore, Chris Norberg, Darius Benders, Rob Shields, and Kenny Woods. Senior Coaches were Ryan Izzo, Mike Millien, Pete Bowes and Steve Shevory.

To start off the game, the senior team kicked off to the juniors, who began the game on offense. The juniors struggled to get the ball up the field, but they eventually came close to scoring. Junior Sarah Buckley brought the ball into the end zone for a touchdown, but her flag was taken before the juniors could score.

The seniors then got the ball back and retaliated. Senior Molly Grimes received the ball and scored the first touchdown making the score 6-0 seniors. Senior Ali Gallivan then prepared to kick for the extra point. Each team was lined up for the kick, and as the whistle blew, junior Tess Staley charged the ball and blocked the kick to end the first half of the game.

Starting the second half, the juniors kicked off to the seniors, who were on the offensive. The seniors kept the ball for most of the second half, while the juniors fought to keep them from scoring for a second time. With only a minute left in the game and 4 yards to run, the seniors had the ball. The senior center, Kristen Morrissey, hiked the ball to the quarterback Jacey Dold, who then handed the ball off to Grimes. Grimes ran the ball across the field, trying to avoid the group of juniors seeking her flags. Grimes finally made it across the end zone to score her second touchdown.

Controversy occurred when junior Lauren Kelly stood 15 yards back with Grimes’s flag. The referees had not seen her flag get pulled and they were unsure if the flag had been pulled before Grimes had the ball or while she had the ball, so the refs declared the touchdown was good.

After the senior touchdown, only 5 seconds were left, and the juniors were unable to score. With an exciting win for the seniors and a devastating loss for the juniors, the game ended with a senior victory of 12-0.