The seniors defeated the juniors 42-35 on Monday, Nov. 24, at Parsons Field in this year’s Powerpuff game.
Both student sections roared with excitement before the game. Fans were painted and dressed in costumes and jerseys to support their team.
The junior’s initial offense was defined by several successful runs from junior Izzy Wood, who penetrated the seniors’ defense, along with a few exciting, but unsuccessful throws from junior quarterback Allie Levy.
Despite the junior’s resilience on offense, the seniors stopped them before they could reach the end zone, allowing the seniors to regain possession. Senior Julia Vianello scored the first touchdown of the day, rushing it in with 11 minutes left in the first half, bringing the score to 7-0.
Finally, with one minute left in the first half, junior Lila Gorman put the juniors’ first points on the board. Gorman said that her team’s offensive strategy was responsible for her big play.
“We were just focusing on ourselves, not really worrying about the defense, just trying to score as much as we could,” Gorman said.
With only 30 seconds left, senior Jada Kimbro scored a rushing touchdown, putting the seniors up 14-7 to go into the second half. Kimbro scored two rushing touchdowns throughout the game and was a driving component of the seniors’ offense. Junior coach and guidance counselor Clifton Jones said he knew that Kimbro would get many touches.
“Jada was tough. We knew she was gonna get the ball, but she’s a great athlete. Even when we were honed in, she did her thing,” Jones said. ”That was, I think, the X-factor.”
The second half was a battle between both teams, with both sides scoring touchdowns only minutes into the half.
However, after Kimbro scored another rushing touchdown from the 50, the gap between the seniors and juniors began to widen, with the seniors eventually leading by 21 points
Kimbro said she had both excitement and nerves going into the game, which drove her to score for her team.
“I just wanted to put it all out there,” Kimbro said. “It made me happy, making those touchdowns for my team. ”
Though the juniors attempted to fight back in the second half, they were never able to overcome the seniors, trailing until the end of the game.
The final play of the game was a touchdown pass from Levy to fellow junior Kaylee Co, ending the game, 42-35.
Senior coach and English teacher Nicholas Rothstein said the seniors’ success was due to the switch in game plan at the start.
“On offense, we tried to pass early, and we weren’t connected. We could have kept going, but you’ve got to go with what works, so we stopped passing,” Rothstein said. “We were going to try and run and just sort of bully them, and get as many reps on the ground as we could.”
Despite the tough loss, Jones said he was proud of the junior girls’ sportsmanship and effort on the field.
“It’s easy to get down, and they didn’t. I was really proud of them being able to keep it going,” Jones said. “Definitely a lot of hard work, like real football, not a show.”
