By Zander Sherry
On Thursday, May 25, FVHS held their annual Powderpuff match on the FVHS turf. As an ASB hosted and student-run event, the turnout was excellent with both parents and students hungry for some fun grade-level rivalry.
Student coaches from FVHS athletic departments and athletes from all girls’ sports teams trained for weeks leading up to the game for the final showdown between juniors, dawning gold jerseys, and seniors in white.
In the end, the junior class came out victorious after holding a one point deficit for the majority of the game, striking two touchdowns in the last six minutes of the game due to intense rushes across the field that the seniors could not keep up with.
Star players for the class of 24 were juniors Mackenzie Butt who consistently kept her head in the game, Kayla Knoob outrunning the seniors to show incredible offense in the final quarter and Joycemary Dang who intercepted the ball several times with solid defense.
“We had a good attitude overall, and just a good outlook on [the game],” junior Kimberly Ritchie said.
The game started at 4 p.m. and the first possession went to the seniors, who were intercepted by the juniors quickly for the first turnover, allowing them to advance 20 yards.
An interception by senior Britney Nguyen exemplified the intensity that both teams played with, as the first half of the game was riddled with turnovers and back and forth gains.
“I am so proud of my team,” Nguyen said. “I could not be prouder of them”
With no touchdowns from either side, Gold made it the closest with 12 yards to the endzone. However, after an incomplete pass on the first down, with 20 seconds left, they advanced 10 yards, but could not score before the quarter’s end.
In the next quarter, immediately after senior London Braithewait’s punt to Nguyen, junior Dang intercepted the ball to give the gold team a striking chance and a down.
Nguyen, however, quickly caught on with an interception for the seniors, and advanced to the white team’s 21-yard line with a successful drive down the field.
With seniors on offense and 21 to go, senior Leila Saldic made a trick play to maneuver past defense and win the game’s first touchdown. Saldic’s familiarity with the turf as one of FVHS’ athletes on the girls’ soccer team allowed her to make such a quick play before the juniors could respond.
Five minutes left in the second quarter, the team celebrated, then quickly sprung into action for senior Josie Templin to get the conversion point. The score was 7-0.
Senior Charlene Vo made her second interception of the game, and pace was good for the white team on offense until juniors scraped up a safety, worth two points, which allowed them to advance to their first touchdown of the game for a score of 7-6.
The last minute of the first half was scrappy, with senior coaches calling timeout, followed by a junior linebacker intercepting a 10-yard pass.
Dang weaved through defense to advance 10 yards until tackled, and soon after, Gold called their timeout with 12 seconds to go.
With no advances after timeout, the first half ended, the score still 7-6.
Junior Knoob started the third quarter strong with a 25-yard gain, which, after a couple of turnovers, was followed by a 15-yard run by Dang to the halfway point. She kept her momentum going by advancing 15 more yards into the white defense.
The junior team threw a 20-yard pass to offense, but senior Saldic put up a good interception to protect her team’s endzone, and advanced to the 22-yard line.
The last quarter saw a major upturn for the junior team. Touchdowns from both teams and the ejection of a senior coach defined this quarter as the most eventful.
The seniors eventually reached the halfway point halfway through the 12 minute quarter, and advanced closer to the endzone soon after.
However, despite the senior’s hard push back, Knoob, who is a captain for girls’ soccer, sprinted with the ball past any and all defense for the fastest touchdown of the game at 5:50 left in the quarter.
With no conversion, the juniors now led with 12-7.
“[We were] aggressive and physical,” Knoob said.
On the seniors’ first down at their end zone, the gold team intercepted and made another touchdown for a 18-7 score. Now, with four minutes left on the clock, the seniors needed two touchdowns to equalize.
They managed one more touch down for six more points, due to quick maneuvers by Nguyen and a striking 41-yard run immediately after receiving a punt from the 50-yard line. On the next play, Knoob intercepted the seniors and the clock ran even closer. Another timeout was called with 20 seconds left in the match.
Back into play, senior Katie West caught a passing touchdown for the game’s last points precisely at the end of the clock, setting the score to 18-13.
The teams celebrated the golden victory with medals and cheers from all students on the field, coaches, refs, athletes and MCs.
The Powderpuff match returns every year for athletes to experience football in a special event. Recently, however, CIF southern section has sanctioned girls’ flag football as an official sport for season, and FVHS considers it as a possibility.
“A lot of the girls’ said it was really fun out here, so I think they would enjoy [flag football],” senior referee and FVHS football captain Caine Elroy said. “It would be entertaining, it’d be cool.”
With the juniors’ victory, many winners will be returning for next year’s powderpuff game in may, and already having experienced successful coaching, they have hopes to take another victory to represent their class next year.
“A big part of our game was to be physical, but not dirty,” senior Michael Rocha, who coached the junior team, said. “We teach that all the time: play within the whistle.”
