Class of 2022 wins playoff Powder Puff game-seniors prevail
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By Cynthia Haggitt
Seniors won the bragging rights as Powder Puff Champs! Left to right: Emily Cummings, Mallory Kamp, Emily Wieneke, Maddie Buchanan(middle center), Ella Sievers. Charleigh Wilson and Kylie Angel. (Cynthia Haggitt/Calhoun News-Herald)
When a person comes to watch Calhoun High School (CHS) teenage girls play a friendly game of Powder Puff football they may be shocked at what they see. This homecoming tradition is a competitive tournament between the classes but things can sometimes get pretty ugly.
“There are eight girls per team and the teams will start at the 50 yard line with 15 minutes on the clock, two halves and they are allowed a five minute time out,”CHS’s math teacher and announcer Eric Hagen said. “This year’s Powder Puff game features the seniors vs. freshmen and the sophomores vs juniors.”
Hagen mentioned that the winner of the two games will play in a playoff game for title bragging rights of 2021 Homecoming Powder Puff Champs.
“However in the event of a tie each team will get one chance with one play starting on the 50 yard line and the team who gets the most yards wins.” Hagen said.
Both teams took to the field as players while their male classmates assisted as coaches. In the first battle seniors (purple team) and freshman (green team) fought hard but the freshman scored first taking the lead to 7-0 with a connecting throw from Lacey Pohlman and Kate Zipprich.
Seniors got a chance at the pig skin, and they worked their way down the football field however there were quite a few flag tackles before Mallory Kamp connected with a catch. Kamp took a long dash down the field and scored with a touchdown to tie the freshman. As the football exchanged hands and the freshman snapped the ball to Pohlman, she threw a long pass to Zipprich and the freshman moved ahead of the seniors 14 to 7.
Then freshman, Audrey Gilham, then scored again in the second half from a 40-yard rushing touchdown raising the score to 21-7. Seniors called a time out. The girls got advice from their Warrior football coaches. The seniors regrouped and scored twice Charleigh Wilson charged the field scoring once with 11:10 left on the scoreboard to make it 21-14 with only one touchdown needed to tie the game.
Even though the freshman had the ball there was a fumble on the field and Wilson swiped the ball on the play and barreled down the field bulldozing through a sea of purple and pink to tie the game. Some drama did ensue on the field and some penalties were called before the tie breaker which the Warrior football coaches made a call on Wilson saying she was cheating.
“It was not my fault. My flag belt barely had any velcro on the belt. My flags kept falling off during the game so one of the guys suggested loosely tying the flag to the belt for the flag to stay on,” Wilson said. “I did as he suggested but as the game wore on some freshman pulled on my flag really hard and that is why the penalties were called. I did not cheat and it really made me upset which only made me play better, we tied the game and then in the playoffs we won.”
In the next match the sophomores (pink team) squared off first, with the juniors(blue team) taking home a hard-fought game going neck and neck. The sophomores scored first within less than 2 or 3 minutes on the clock with a touchdown. Then the juniors got the ball and scored again making the game 14-7 but after a few plays between the blue shirts and the pink shirts the score went from 14 (juniors) to 7 (sophomores). Then, after a couple more interesting plays, the scoreboard says 21(juniors) to 14 (sophomores). In the next play after the pink team scored again making the score 21 to 21, the juniors then scored another touchdown pulling ahead to 28-21.
The ball exchanged hands back to the sophomores hands and they pulled ahead with a few plays leading the game to a 28-28 tie. Over the announcements Hagen rattles that there is a tie-breaker folks and the same rules as before.
“Juniors get the ball first,” he said.“The junior girls took it to the 50 yard line but couldn’t get past the sophomore’s defense.
Sophomores took the ball to the 50 yard line and hiked the ball. They took the ball to the field with a pass to Jaylee Hill and they won the game. “
The last game of the night to declare who would end up winning between the pink team (sophomores) and the purple team (the seniors).
The sophomores scored first with a 7-0 lead but the seniors were bound and determined not to lose. The second game saw the sophomore and seniors trading scores in the first half for a 7-7 tie at the break. The seniors took the lead in the second half, and the game went down to the wire with the Class of ‘24 threatening to score a touchdown in the final moments. However, that was not to be as the seniors emerged victorious with a 14-7 final score because Wilson scored another touchdown again.
The class of 2022 won. Overall a fun and exciting game to watch. The senior girls winning is a fitting end to their last homecoming Powder Puff game. Congrats to CHS’s senior girls for going out as champions!
