On October 26th during JR’s 2023 Homecoming Pep-Rally, seniors and juniors faced off in the annual Powderpuff game. Powderpuff, a tradition dating back to 1945, is where cheerleaders play flag or touch football and football players take on the role of the cheerleaders.
As the two teams, including their student coaches ran onto the field, cheers from their respective grades broke out. “It was exciting getting ready as a team, you could feel the unity within the juniors because everyone just wanted to have a good time [and try to win],” junior Sophia Harper said. ”
As the seniors ran on, a group of boys could be spotted on the field, each of them with a letter spelling out HOCO. Senior Charlie Bertsch had a question mark drawn on him and was holding flowers as he waited for Samantha Kosinski to run on with the senior team. According to Kosinski, “everyone who was doing Powderpuff [on the senior team] knew that he was doing that.” As they were gathered in the tunnel she says that all her teammates were pushing her to go to the front. When asked about what her team’s reactions were after she said yes, she said they were super excited, “They were all like, did you know [this was happening], did you know?”
After the excitement, the game kicked off with the juniors on offense and seniors on defense. As the game began, the student section could be heard all over Tenleytown. The senior and junior cheering sections displayed their school spirit with donated bras, skirts, and whatever their hearts desired.
Early on, the seniors intercepted a pass by junior quarterback Sydney Mabry and capitalized with an impressive play, scoring a touchdown on a long run by Kryslynn Stewart. However, the juniors did not let up. Junior track star Indie Wallace remarked, “the score from the seniors caught us off guard, but we still [continued] to try our best and had a lot of fun in the process.”
Both teams had strong defenses and after the initial touchdown neither team scored again. While the junior offense played hard, the senior defense was on their A-game. After the 20 minute game ended, the seniors went wild celebrating their 7-0 win.
Although there was only one winner, both teams’ players and coaches had nothing but positive reviews of their experience. When asked about the loss, Scott Mesiah, one of the junior team student coaches said, “We handled the loss well. We were underprepared and needed some more practice time, but that’s just how it is. It was a fun experience and I definitely will be doing it again next year!” Junior Sydney Mabry agreed saying,“I thought it was so much fun and definitely want to play again next year!”
