On October 8th, West had their annual Powder Puff game. Where the girls get on the field to play football instead of the boys. West has done Powder Puff for many years; each year, our students participate with excitement and go show support for our girls. For some, this is a tradition, and for others, this is a new experience, but this game has something for everyone.
The juniors in purple and the seniors in pink compete in two 20-minute halves, and this year, instead of two-hand touch like years prior, flag football will be played instead. The teachers in charge of running the event are Kenley Bentley and Emily Corey. This year, the rules have changed because they are following the rule book for flag football.
“We are going by the official NFL powder puff rules for flag football because I think the girls want to tackle each other, but that makes it a little bit difficult because we just don’t want to deal with injuries,” Bentley said.
Since Powder Puff doesn’t have the proper equipment, they are limited when it comes to Powder Puff, safety is the biggest priority for athletes and students.
“I think we could use some better facilities for next year, and maybe more footballs”, senior Kaylee Stutzman said.
Flag football is a big change from the two-hand-touch last year, but the results of this change were beneficial because the students who played had a better time when playing. Students had a lot to say about the new rules and how the game was managed overall.
“I think two-hand-touch always has a potential for someone to get hurt just because it’s hard for people to control their bodies when they’re running, and the flags give them a better, easier way to get them down,” senior Ella Fergus said.
Even though flag football can be very difficult, it’s much easier to have control of your body and keep the players from getting pushed around. Since West has a lack of equipment for the girls, we had new rules to help the game progress at a better and more exciting pace . These new rules were very interesting to the players.
“There was a no-run zone this year where you were in a section in the field, where you had to throw the ball. There were no rushing touchdowns; you had to throw it for a touchdown,” Fergus said.
This made the game more interesting and also gave both teams a fair shot at winning. Not only were the students much happier with the way the game played out, but the game was much safer. Some students say that using flags made the game harder, but player safety is the number one priority. Even though these new rules might have come across as silly or weird, they were really important when playing the game.
The seniors beat the juniors this year, 40-32, with four overtimes due to a tie at the end of regulation, so it was very close. Every time the seniors would score, the juniors would answer back, making the game interesting and leaving people on the edge of their seats. Hopefully, next year’s game will be just as good because this year has definitely been much better than in the past. West continues this tradition, and each new game is better than the last.
