By: Maria Schense

  During the first semester of school, two popular student athletic events, are Powderpuff and Powerpuff. Each event allows the junior and senior class to try a new sport, an experience friendly competition.

“Tackle” the Competition

The Powderpuff game is a junior class planned event, where girls from the junior and senior class, go head-to-head in a football game on Fortune Field. This year marked Tuscarora’s seventh annual game, and it was also the first year that the junior girls won, with a score of 6-0.

  “I think the juniors won because we had a lot of natural talent, and everyone at practice worked hard to learn the plays,” said Kari Jacobson, junior quarterback.

  Another factor that helped the junior class secure the win, was the coaches. “We worked together really well as a team, coaches included,” said Anna Chalmers, junior defensive end.

With all the excitement of the win, it is easy to overlook the ones on the sidelines, the coaches. “The hardest part of coaching was getting all of the practices organized and deciding what plays to run,” said Yusuf Rafigzad, junior coach.

  But even with all of the stress, many coaches loved the experience, “My favorite part of coaching was being around everyone and the atmosphere!” said Will Moore, junior coach.

  Garrett Kaplan, senior coach, agreed saying, “[My favorite part of coaching was] watching the girls execute plays and have fun while doing it.”

Although the game did not turn out in the seniors favor, Rosie Hackman, senior quarterback, said that, “I would have rather won than lost; however, the real value of Powderpuff was the time spent together at practice.”

  As with many events in the school, the Powderpuff game is a fundraising event. “Powderpuff raised around $500, in total we’ve raised about $2,600, but Prom usually comes to around $25,000 dollars,” said Ms. Anne Tulloch, junior class sponsor.   

  With that in mind, make sure to look out for upcoming events to help support Prom and become involved within the school. With the seventh game down, make sure to watch out for next year’s game if you are interested in playing or supporting Prom!

“Set” the Score

The Powerbuff game is a competitive volleyball competition between the juniors and the seniors, and it is run by the Student Council, or SCA. Compared to the football game, the volleyball game is young as it is only the second year the event has taken place.

  This year’s outcome resulted in a junior win, 2-1, adding another win to the junior Powderpuff, making the score between the two years 2-0, in the juniors favor.

  “I decided to join Powerbuff because every since I started the Men’s Volleyball Club at Smart’s Mill, I’ve always enjoyed playing volleyball with my friends,” said Duncan Schenk, junior player.

  The volleyball teams were coached by the junior and senior girls on the varsity volleyball team. “The coaches were above and beyond they took the extra mile to make us a great team,” said Jack Maschler, junior player.

  The senior players agreed, saying that the coaches were a strong point of the team. “[The] coaches were awesome, they organized the team well into the positions that best fit our skill set, height, and taught us rules that we didn’t know,” said Kevin Kostka, senior player.

  Along with helping run the event, Anne Louise Seekford, senior coach and SCA secretary, “really enjoyed coaching the senior guys because they all had a competitive drive and really wanted to win, which made it fun and easy to coach them.”

  Although the seniors fell short, they had their fair share of strengths too. “I think the strength of  the seniors was the teamwork. We had good teamwork all around,” said Ben Nibblelink, senior player.

  Different from Powderpuff, Powerbuff’s proceeds did not go towards Prom, but rather towards the SCA. This year the Powerbuff game raised over $800 for the SCA. “We decided to donate it, we haven’t decided which charity yet,” said Seekford.

  With the amount of participation and the total money raised, the future looks good for Powerbuff to continue as a school event. Look out for next year’s recruitment if you are interested in playing or supporting a great cause!