A 14-14 tie. The annual powder puff game is a staple of homecoming week, and a moment for the junior and senior women to take the field and compete with packed stands cheering them on. For the last 10 years, the seniors have won handily. As the tie was announced last night, cries of upset rose out of the stands; juniors jumped in excitement and seniors solemnly left.

“I think it was definitely the most intense powder puff game that there’s ever been. I just was on the sidelines and could still feel all of that competitiveness and craziness,” senior Colleen Smith said.

However, the same spirit of competitiveness cultivated disappointment among the senior class when they did not come out as the sole victors of the game.

“I was so mad,” senior Erin Leahy said. “At the last play, we were on the 15-yard line and [junior] Ashton Manwell fouled and was off side, so [the juniors] should’ve gotten a five-yard penalty, we should’ve been on the 10-yard line, they should’ve stopped the clock and we should’ve gotten a touchdown. They normally [rig the system] because then everyone gets a chance to win, and then they took that from us.”

Seniors speculate that the game’s sponsors did not “rig” the game in their favor due to aggressive behavior from individual senior players.

“Yes, we cheated, but they also cheated, and the clock was never stopped at the end. I think it’s kind of a tradition that the seniors cheat, except this year, it was probably the most violent powder puff game I’ve seen in all four years. I’ve watched all of them, and I’ve never seen [players] get hurt that much,” senior Ann Truka said. “The board said 15-14, but they announced that it was a tie. It’s kind of a letdown, because what I’ve heard is that they normally do rig it, but at the beginning we had a bit of a mishap, and I feel like they took [the win] away from us because of what happened. One girl tackled another girl.”

Due to the confusion surrounding the clock, seniors feel robbed of their chance at winning the game.

“The clock was supposed to stop in the last couple minutes when the plays are done, but in the last 40 seconds, it did not stop at all, and we were this close to getting another touchdown. It was terrible. Nobody was listening,” senior Maddie Noonan said. “We were supposed to win, we’re seniors. It’s a once in a lifetime kind of thing: you win as a senior. We should’ve at least gone into overtime.”

Junior quarterback Bailey Goughenour dissents from the popular opinion held by senior women that the game was not fixed in the favor of the seniors. Regardless of the final score, she is proud of the class of 2019 for competing with integrity.

“I think that we should’ve won, but I guess it’s a nice tie for the seniors because they totally rigged the game, but it’s okay. It’s pretty exciting because in the past years, everyone knows that the seniors win, this is the first year that the juniors actually came close to winning,” Goughenour said. “Next year, when we’re seniors, I hope we don’t rig the game.”