Nell Jaskowiak

Senior Caroline Shaw paints a banner for the senior team for the powder puff game. She views the game as a fun memory and community-building experience. “I was super excited [to play] and I honestly signed up the first day that forms got handed out,” Shaw said.

The annual face-off between junior and senior girls known as the powder puff game is a cornerstone tradition of homecoming week. Generally, the seniors win the game, and the class of 2018 hopes to keep the tradition alive.

“As a grade we’re pretty close-knit I would say, and so that’s to our advantage that we have that because then we really trust each other and we’ll be more of a team. Passing the ball to the fastest person and just having them run as far as they can go is our main strategy,” senior player Angela Atkinson said.

The juniors have a similar strategy, hoping their speed and agility will give them an edge over the seniors.

“We’re all pretty athletic, and [junior] Ashton Manwell is a big asset; she’s very fast, and she is crazy, so we’re glad to have her on our team. The seniors had better watch out because we have some pretty crazy girls ready to play,” junior Erika Anstine said.

All the girls had a chance to bond with their teammates and brush up on their football skills at the first practice on Oct. 5.

“At first, practice was really hectic and chaotic, but then the coaches got us all settled down. We were super hyper for the first part because we’re all super excited to play; there was just a lot of screaming and yelling going on. By the end, we looked pretty good, the juniors better watch out,” senior Caroline Shaw said.

Although both teams had rocky starts, they figured out a game plan by the end of practice.

“We had some ups and downs throughout the practice, but I think that by the end we figured out what we needed to work on and we worked on it,” junior player Lauren Horn said. “We mainly focused on fundamentals and the basics on Thursday, while this week we will focus more on putting them into plays for the game. Our team has some very skilled players, and I can’t wait to play against the senior team.”

The seniors credit their past experience playing the powder puff game last year in aiding them in their team’s organization in preparation of this year’s game.

“I should be keeping it a secret, but I think that we’re just going to have a lot of trick plays that are going to fool the juniors,” Shaw said. “I think we’re going to outsmart them. The seniors don’t take Ls.”