The Woodbridge High School annual Powderpuff Football games took place this week with matchups between the Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Seniors all trying to bring gold to their respective classes.
Before the first game the coaches and team were trying to lock in and go over their game plans before kickoff. Bryce Khan coach of the junior team said “We need our big-time players to step up in these big moments. Our offense must be efficient, and our defense must be lockdown, we need to score on every drive and force turnovers.” Khan expected a lot of production from William and Mary commit Gwen Doughty, “She’s a dog and we need her to play to her full potential if we are going to win.” On the other side the Freshman team coached by Ms. Alette, Denari Hill and Rashad Mitchell warmed up ahead of their game. “We need to execute our gameplan and play great the whole time.”
The first matchup was the Freshman facing off against the Juniors. The Juniors easily handled business holding the freshman scoreless through the two halves and winning 14-0 to move on to the championship. When asked about the game Coach Khan said, “We did exactly what we wanted to do all game.”
The second game consisted of the Seniors facing off against the Sophomore class. The Seniors came into the game on a mission taking the game 21-0 in a lopsided victory. Coach Marquise Gardner said “We dominated them in every aspect of the game. Our defense locked them down all game and our offense were just too much for them to handle.” A player the whole senior coaching staff mentioned was Naija Phillips who had 2 Interceptions, one Pick-6 and another touchdown on top of that to seal the seniors spot in the championship game.
The consolation game kicked off with the Freshman playing the sophomores. This game was a nailbiter throughout the whole game going into overtime with a score of 14-14. The sophomores ended up taking the game in overtime to win 3rd place of the powderpuff tournament, while the defending champions from last year placed last out of all the classes this year.
The championship game between the Seniors and Juniors was close all through. “We have to play with the same intensity and efficiency we played with in the first game,” Senior Coach Nasir Thomas said while they prepared for the game. On the Juniors side they came in with a similar gameplan Khan said, “We have to take care of the ball this game, we can’t beat ourselves and we have to play to our fullest potential this game, this is the moment we have been working for.” The scoring started with the Seniors scoring first off, a touchdown pass that was quickly matched by a touchdown by the juniors. Then in the second half the teams went back and forth again matching each other’s touchdowns until the final minutes of the game when the Seniors would score yet another touchdown and get a massive stop on defense to take home the Powderpuff championship with a score of 21-14. “Our girls played great today and executed everything we needed them to,” Coach Gardner said, “Our big-time players made big time plays and I couldn’t be happier for them.”
The Senior team consisted of Kylie Barbier, Saige Berta, Trinity Roth, Naija Phillips, Maria Lowry, Amber Savage, Ashley Ayala-Mata, Farah Elbrmawy, Gabby Jackson, Haidyn Ravinski, Jada Holt, Monica Flores, Netalia Sera, Neve Kelly, Samaya Black, Yesenia Berry, Kyra Johnson and Maddy Miller and they are your 2023 Powderpuff champions.
