The annual Powder Puff will be tomorrow starting at 3:30 p.m. The teams have been raising money for Honor Flight. The team with the most money raised gets the talents of senior quarterback Bo Bell.
The sophomore girls will first play the juniors; the winner will face the seniors. Here’s a look at who will be taking the field.
Sophomores
Team Captains: Isabelle Bouchard and Ali Kreklow
Coaches: Tarus Moore, Brody Watson, Zach Reuter, Ross Alexander
Roster: Lauren Wallace, Rachel White, Mckenna Blume, Sydney Lottes, Delaney Catlettstout, Alexus Carson, Gabby Galarza, Madison Wipfler, Molly Mehle, Caroline Sundvold, Kayla Cooper, Madison Reasoner, Lauren Jamison, Whitney Cravens, Sophi Farid, Crystalyn Wyatt, Lindsey Grant, Hannah Liebhart, Lauren Smith, Hayden Niemeyer, Erin Concannon, Hanna Flanagan, Stephanie Stricker, Joanna Zhang, Callie Sapp, Shelbie Atwell, Taylor McDannold, Reagan DeClerk, Katie Gardner, Kylie Smith, Katy Shi, Breta Phillips, Madison Boyken
BearingNews caught up with captain Isabelle Bouchard Nov. 9 to hear her thoughts on the game.
Q: What is the team’s attitude going into the game?
A: You know, we are really confident, and we just have a lot of fun, so people sign up for fun. … We want to win, but we’re also just out there to give it our best, so we’ll see. We’re pretty confident. We got this.
Q: What’s your strategy to improve your team?
A: Speed and strength. If there weren’t flags, we would totally be tackling everyone — that’s just how it goes. We’re just throwing a lot and focusing on our quarterbacks and catching and all that, so [our] strategy is get the ball, run; don’t get your flags taken off and get a touchdown.
Q: What’s your coach doing to help you guys?
A: [Our coach] Mrs. [April] Sulze, she’s actually coming down [Tuesday] for our first practice, but I’m not sure what she’s going to do. She hasn’t practiced with us yet, but I’m sure she has something up her sleeve; she’s up on it.
Q: What are your guy coaches doing?
A: They had a few drills. They were teaching the girls how to get away from defensive blocks and how to throw well and stuff like that so, you know, they did pretty good.
Q: What is going to be the toughest thing about going up against the juniors and seniors?
A: I think for us the toughest thing might be don’t look at [the competition] and think, ‘Oh, we are just the sophomores,’ like, don’t look at like we are being down-graded by [the upperclassmen] or anything, but I think [the hardest thing] would be to keep pushing forward, I guess.
Q: Do you think the seniors cheat?
A: I think they will, but everyone does so … I’ve heard from some people that they make sure the seniors win, but I’ve heard from others that whatever happens happens. I think the seniors definitely have to pick it up because, like, the juniors beat them every year so far, but I don’t know how you cheat. You just have to have good refs, I guess.
Q: What do you think your chances of winning are?
A: Well, we have a lot of the softball girls on our team, and so they know how to throw and stuff, so we’ve got that advantage, and we have a lot of girls that, like, I didn’t think we’d have a lot of girls that can throw, but we actually do. I just think we have to work on the catching part, and we could definitely get the ball down there so that’s a good strength. We have a lot of people that can catch; we just have to fill up a lot of the positions. We have a lot of everything, I guess, and we have speed.
Q: What are you doing as a team captain to increase your chances?
A: Well, we’ve got really cute T-shirts, so that will definitely help. We’ve been trying to get in as many practices as possible, and we want every girl to be able to play what position they want, but we are also trying to fit and incorporate their skills with the positions, too, so we are just mainly trying to teach the girls, like, about the positions and how to get them to play so in practice. We’re just going to go over, try to find a position that’s best for everyone and then just kind of teach everyone the game because that’s something that a lot of girls don’t have experience doing.
Juniors
Team Captains: Maddy Jones, Rachel Muzzy
Head coaches: West Wilson and Coach Collier
Assitant coaches: Matt Bush, Kenneth James, Freeman Simmons
Roster:Annie Rumpf, Sammy Baker, Hailey King, Leia Tarbox, Arsiama Arefaine, Shantavia Johnson, Christina Oyelola, Olivia Mends, Morgan Bumby, Haley Evers, Erica Beck, Abby Spaedy, Abby Hake, Brooke Ward, Clara Phillips, Zaynab Hussam, Krista Blomenkamp, Jeseca Downes, Bailey Linebaugh, Kayla Bouchey, Olivia Granneman, Alex Hutchinson, Lara Cox, Caiti Tabaka, Carleigh Thrower, Kate Hulen, Hannah Hughes, Gracie Strawn, Ta’Yestaday Cross, Aubrie Cornell, Emily Shaw, M.C. Burns, Peggy Terzopoulos, Josie Camden, Sienna Trice, Samantha Villarreal, Taylour Wilson, Kathryn Kirtley
BearingNews found captain Maddy Jones Nov. 9 to hear her thoughts, as well.
Q: What are you guys doing to increase your chances of winning?
A: Well, we are practicing. Even if the weather is poor, we are still practicing; we are getting our chalk talks in and all that stuff, and we are splitting into separate teams because we have so many coaches. We can do offense and defense.
Q: What’s your team’s attitude going into the game?
A: We’re just pumped because last year we beat the seniors . … We are gonna dominate the sophomores [this year], so we think we have it in the bag; we are pretty pumped.
Q: Does your team have certain skills that will increase your chances of winning?
A: We have a pretty solid defensive line and, like, we have good blockers, and our quarterback [Sienna Trice] is pretty accurate with her passes, and we can catch. We just pretty much have the whole package.
Q: Do you have any strategies to help you get the upper hand on sophomores and seniors?
A: We are just trying to push yards, and our strategies are kind of secretive, so I can’t really share those with you. I mean, we are ready to dominate.
Q: What are your chances of winning?
A: I think our chances are very high. I mean, we’re definitely taking [the sophomores] seriously just because it is our first game, but I mean we’re ready to go after them.
Q: Do you think the seniors cheat?
A: I think they obviously want to have the upper-hand with the refs and stuff like that; there are always rumors of seniors paying the refs and all that stuff. I mean, [the seniors] are pretty good, so it’s a pretty fair game. I think that if the lower classes wanted to win and they did, they wouldn’t call it against us.
Seniors
Team Captains: Anna Howser, Nelly Poehlman
Coaches: Mr. Egan, Ian Patterson, Austin Ray, Josh Powell, Nate Egharevba, Bo Bell, Coltin Hermann, Brad Troyer
Roster: Carmen Boessen, Lindsey Cunningham, Courtney McKnight, Emily Gaunt, Lexi Bumby, Sami Johnson, maddie Davis, Lauren Fuller, Whitney Wipfler, Meagan Jamison, Shelby Smith, Jaura Jursek, kay Fischer, Alyssa Fancher, Stephanie Monticelli, Ashley Monticelli, Katrina Fox, Brett Fuller, Paige Fanguy, Kelsey Nietzel, Katie Dirks, Michelle Reehl, Peyton Kuligowski, Morgan reimler, Dani Long, Anna Alioto, Jackie Nichols, Audrey Wagner, Pascale White, haley Rohrer, Brooke Eaton, Halley Hollis, Caraline Trecha, Stephanie King, Emily Smith, Cailin Cumer, Sami Kanago, Savannah Pounds, Leyna Craigmile
Finally, senior captain Anna Howser made time Nov. 9 to answer BearingNews questions.
Q: What do you expect from the powderpuff game?
A: To win, duh. I played junior year.
Q: Do the seniors always cheat?
A: We don’t cheat; we just win.
Q: What are your strategies as team captain?
A: Well, Bo Bell is one of our coaches, and we’re going to win the honor flight thing, and he’s going to play for us. We have not had a practice yet. Our first practice is [Wednesday].
Q: What is your team’s attitude going into this game?
A: We are pumped. We are ready to win because it’s our last chance to win. Any senior girl you talk to in the hallway who has got her powderpuff on is ready. We’re going to go all black this year, so you won’t even see us coming because its going to be dark outside.
Q: What are you doing as a team captain to improve your chances of winning?
A: Donating and encouraging everyone to donate so that we can have Bo Bell. We are going to strategize tonight, and we have seven members of the varsity football team as our coaches, and they are going to be training us tonight. We have a kicker, Ian [Paterson] — the only kicker — three defense guys and three offense guys, and they’re going to run us tonight … not actually run us, but they’re going to teach us how to play. We know how to play. We’ve played the past two years. I’m just saying, look how far [the football team] got this year; expect us to get even farther.
Q: What are your chances of winning?
A: 100 percent because we are the seniors, and seniors always win. We don’t cheat; we just win.
By Kaitlyn Marsh