Red versus blue. Freshmen and juniors versus sophomores and seniors. Powerpuff is one of the most anticipated events of the year and helps to unify the school.

Powerpuff, which takes place annually on Nov. 21, is a flag football game played between junior and senior girls. The wednesday before Thanksgiving, the high school has a half day, followed by a pep rally and the Powerpuff game.

The game, previously referred to as “Powderpuff,” changed its name due to the sexism surrounding the original name. Senior Adi Mayer understands the reason for the change but feels that this causes the game to lose its history.

“I understand it is supposed to be progress towards more women’s empowerment, but I think the history of it is more important to women empowerment,” Mayer said.

Senior Sophie Hafner agrees, saying that she understands the reasoning behind the name change but that it doesn’t actually degrade the game.

“In its essence, Powerpuff is a little bit sexist because it is putting girls playing football on the spectacle, but for the people that are playing it, it doesn’t feel like that at all. It feels very intense, it is very physical, it doesn’t feel like a joke,” Hafner said.

The pep rally, which takes place in Schluntz Gymnasium, features many different performances, including dance groups, cheerleaders and the players, which helps to hype everyone up for the game.

“Actually how it starts is the girls playing on the teams run in and do sort of a dance or routine to hype everyone up and it is super spirited,” Hafner said.

Hafner said that before she joined the team as a junior, the pep rally was her favorite part of the day.

“I think before I played, it was definitely the pep rally and seeing everyone dressed up at school, but then once you are playing and actually on the field, it is so intense and everyone is working together. It is so fun, so that was definitely my favorite part this year,” Hafner said.

According to Mayer, once she played in the game, she became more invested in the experience.

“It was really intense, and it was with all these girls that I love and support and who love and support me. It was a really unifying experience,” Mayer said.

Hafner said the game is actually much more physical than one would expect.

“When you are in the game, there is someone who is trying to run at you and tackle you, technically it is pulling your flags, but it is very physical,” Hafner said.

As the coach for the senior team, guidance counselor Clifton Jones says that the practices are run intensely to prepare the girls for the extremely physical game to follow.

“It is run like football practice. Anything you would do in an actual football practice, that’s what we do,” Jones said.

Jones credits the camaraderie of the game to the number of people who participate.

“I think for some of our other athletes, it is a sport that they have never been able to participate in, and I think for other girls who don’t play sports, it is kind of the one thing they do as part of bonding with the class,” Jones said.

Likewise, Mayer said that most people in the school participate in some way to the day itself, some by even coming in early to decorate the hallways. However, Mayer advises that you stick to your own colored hallway for the day.

“If you are a blue team supporter and you walk into the red hallway, you might be splattered with red paint, so I wouldn’t do it. You might want to avoid the other team’s hallways for the day!” Mayer said.

Hafner said that she feels that it is one of the biggest days for the school as the unification helps to create new friendships.

“I think it is one of the only events we have that brings whole grades together because we are not a school where the entire school will go out to see a football game like some high schools you would imagine,” Hafner said. “Powerpuff is the one event we have where everyone gets super into it, and it kind of unites people to their own grade.”