By Karissa Collins and Katie O’Loughlin
The senior girls took on the junior girls this past Friday night, November 16th, under the lights on David Hughes Stadium, competing in Hopkinton High School’s sixth annual Powderpuff flag football game.

Both the juniors and seniors started the game off strong. Junior Lizzi Allen scored a touchdown just minutes into the game and senior Leah Holmes quickly responded with a 52 yard touchdown. The two sides remained neck and neck throughout the first half of the game, going into the second half with a score of 29 – 19 in favor of the seniors.

Even though the juniors came into the game with a lot of energy, the seniors gained momentum during the second half, with Leah Holmes, Tess Chandler, and Julie Younis all scoring touchdowns.

“Leah Holmes and Julie Younis are two really great running backs,” commented Michael Hooker, co-coach of the senior girls. Holmes and Younis dominated during the game, scoring 5 and 2 touchdowns, respectively.

After an intense game, the seniors came out on top, defeating the juniors 56-39.

“I think the game went extremely well. We all played our hearts out and left everything on the field,” said senior quarterback Jaclyn Chirco.

Junior Livy Harvey commented, “The game was super fun. Even though we did not win, we all still had a great time.”

Although the seniors had more experience than the juniors, that was not necessarily what led them to their win.

“I think the [senior’s] advantage goes away after the first few minutes once everyone settles into the game,” explained senior co-coach and assistant principal Evan Bishop.

“The thing that worked best for us was definitely the run game,” said Chirco. “Our running backs had a fantastic showing.”

Bishop was very impressed by the game and how well both teams played.

“I think it was a hard-fought, back-and-forth, entertaining game. This game probably had more big plays than any other Powderpuff game I have ever been a part of,” Bishop said.

Rumors floated before the game of how prepared the juniors were, but the nerves were not able to distract the seniors from performing their best.

“Going into the game I was a little nervous, per usual, but nothing too extreme. I knew the juniors were ready and were going to come out fired up, but I knew we could handle it,” Chirco said.

“I think the senior girls and coaching staff were quietly confident going into the game,” Bishop agreed, “We had some great practices leading up to Friday and experiences from last year’s game to build off of.”

The seniors needed this confidence after the juniors scored the first touchdown of the game within 30 seconds of the start.

“I think their first touchdown pushed us and made us realize that it was not going to be an easy win. We had to work for it if we wanted it, which we did,” Chirco said.

This game also placed some new records in the record book.

“A record 95 points were scored…the highest combined score we’ve ever had. It was also the largest crowd we’ve ever had for a Powderpuff game, which was really nice to see,” Bishop explained

Aside from the competition itself, the game is also a fundraiser for the two classes. Typically, each class is able to deposit about $500 into their accounts, but this year a new record was set and each class will deposit at least $1,000 to use for class activities such as Junior Prom and Senior Week.

Although the juniors are a little upset by the loss, they are not taking too much time to mope.

“Next year, we’ll kick butt,” Harvey concluded.