SOUTHINGTON — Students stormed the field Saturday evening as the Southington High School girls powder puff team secured a victory over Rocky Hill High School 13-7.
The win marks the third victory in a row for the Blue Knights, after the team swept both games against the Rocky Hill Terriers last year.
Team Captain Lili Doran carried the senior girls to victory by managing to score two touchdowns against their opponents in the first and fourth quarters — with an extra point rounding out the final score.
Charles Kemp, a social studies teacher at the school who has coached the powder puff team for the past 22 years, expressed his pride with how the girls performed this year.
“I’m so proud of these players. They’ve done a great job. They’re resilient, and they got it done,” Kemp said following the game. “I was a little nervous there … but the defense stood up and were able to stop them. We ended up getting a late touchdown, which capped it off. It’s been a great effort by everyone.”
The kickoff was at 6 p.m on Fontana Field at Southington High School by the home team, with both teams having a strong showing. They managed to keep the game relatively close until the final quarter, in spite of the 31 degree weather.
The Blue Knights scored a touchdown midway through the first quarter and held a six point lead on Rocky Hill until the third quarter, when Rocky Hill scored a touchdown of their own, with an extra point, giving them an edge with a score of 7-6.
Both teams put up a strong defense against one another, which kept the score relatively close.
The Terriers pushed back Southington in the second quarter, keeping them from scoring a third touchdown on the five yard line. The Blue Knight girls also made several interceptions.
It was that strong defense by the team, said Kemp, that he thought secured them the game.
“I’m so proud of these girls,” said Brittany Wolfe, the team’s defensive coordinator. “They’ve worked so hard all season long. My defense, they went out there, they were physical, they played clean. We made some adjustments after [halftime] and they didn’t let anything by them after that. I couldn’t ask for a better turnout.”
There was a modest crowd in attendance, weathering the cold in black to match the “black out” theme for the game, with several students rushing the field at the end to congratulate the girls on their victory.
The powder puff game is a yearly tradition, bringing together female seniors from across Southington High School, many of whoim are involved in different sports and extracurriculars.
Many of them have been training every Saturday since late September, in preparation for the game.
Though tackles are prohibited, that didn’t stop some of the girls from getting physical on the field, with several getting solid hits in on each other. Despite that, the game remained largely clean, with only two penalties being called across the four quarters.
A couple members of the boys football team also attended dressed as cheerleaders, running up and down the track with pom-poms and keeping the crowd in an enthusiastic mood despite the cold.
cmetzger@record-journal.com