University High School held its very first Powderpuff football game on January 5th, which switched the roles of the football players and the cheerleaders in a friendly competition against class levels. 

   The game was originally scheduled to take place on December 15th, but due to heavy rains, the event had to be rescheduled until after the winter holiday break on Thursday, January 5th. “Figuring out who would coach the teams, practices and then who would referee all the games was challenging. We also had to find volunteers to help with the game and help set up for the whole event,” said SGA sponsor Ms. Alyssa Treibits.

   The role of the football game is reversed by having the girls play football and having some of the football players do cheerleading, causing a switch up between the roles. “I wanted to do this and had immediately wanted to sign up for this opportunity, it was a fun experience as everyone was starting to watch me and the other 3 cheerleaders,” said junior Joseph Healing.

   The sophomore team won beating the seniors to a very close game of 13-12, and the juniors lost the game 12-7. “It felt amazing to win, my team and I worked really hard to win,” said sophomore Celeste Quino.

 The game succeeded in offering a fun experience for anyone who participated. “The best part was being able to play alongside my friends and compete against the other grades,” said senior Jaiden Olivier.

   In addition to having fun, the games were designed to get all students involved either as participants or onlookers. “We had to come up with a way that people could sign up to participate. A big thing for us was making sure the whole event was organized from the teams to the sound booth. We arranged the event as a bracket system,” said SGA member Marissa Ritz. 

   The bracket for the event had seniors automatically going into the final with the other side of the bracket pitted sophomores and juniors. “The sophomores first played the juniors and beat them. Directly after, the sophomores played the seniors. The results were determined after a tough game between the two grades and tough calls made by our refs Mr. Scharr and Mr. McNiel, ” Ritz explained.