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Sandra Cheng

The junior girls put their arms in to raise their spirits and spark encouragement.

Sprinting down the field on a breakaway with less than 10 seconds on the clock, Anna Lazlo brought the senior girls to a 26-21 victory in McLean’s annual Powerpuff match between the junior and senior classes. 

Powerpuff, an event organized by McLean’s Leadership team, allows upperclassmen girls to participate in a friendly game of flag-football. 

“I feel like Powerpuff gave me a chance to bond with girls that I’m not as close to,” junior Anna Ntep said. “The energy is great and very supportive.” 

Practices were organized by the respective boys from each grade. Football players are great coaches. Often, however, there are coaches who do not play this sport but are still passionate about it.

“An average practice for us would be to get there and warm up a bit, and then we would go through some normal drills like catching, and then teach some of our plays,” junior Caf Eaton, the junior girls’ head coach, said.

Participants in Powerpuff get serious about the sport, especially the coaches.

“[The coaches] are hard on us,” Ntep said. “They don’t really know what they’re doing but it’s okay. There is definitely a lot of screaming.” 

Coaches also included teachers, with AP U.S. History teacher Dylan Wedan leading the juniors and seniors. 

“I think that Mr. Wedan really knows what he’s doing,” Ntep said. “He is very supportive. I can tell he knows a lot about football as opposed to our other junior boy coaches.”

For the senior girls, coaching methods have been very similar.

“I try to be intense on the team,” senior head coach Calvin Thinley said. “They should take it as seriously as a real sport.”

While Powderpuff is taken very intensely, it has a balance to keep the game friendly and welcoming. 

“At the same time, we all have fun,” senior Anna Lazlo said. “Before the game, we were all cracking jokes, but when it was ready to play, we were all on top of things.”

This year, the competition was intense between the two grades. The seniors started off the game strong with three touchdowns in the first 20 minutes of play, ending the half strong with a score of 21-7. 

Junior Mary Johnson started the second half strong with an incredible drive to the endzone. This touchdown was followed by junior Talia Bolden, tying up the game. 

This junior success was met with roaring cheers from the crowd and sidelines. While the seniors are known to alway win the Powerpuff game, the tie brought hope to the junior class. 

“[I felt] elated and incredible because of the work we put in to have the final product be shown right in front of us,” Eaton said. 

With the last minute ticking down with a standing 21-21 score, it looked like the game would result in its first-ever tie. A long ball thrown by junior quarterback Habeeba Khan was immediately intercepted by Lazlo, where she ran the ball back for a tie-breaking victory. As she swooped into the end zone, the clock ran down, and the senior girls celebrated by rushing the field in a triumphant huddle. 

“[I felt] terrible, absolutely terrible,” Eaton said. “That was one of the worst moments I’ve experienced recently.”

The senior girls and coaches were triumphant as the crowd went crazy. 

“I am very proud of how the girls did,” Thinely said. “They put in a lot of work and they deserved this. 

While the senior girls are usually known to win Powerpuff, the close game was celebrated by the junior girls. 

“My girls put in a great performance and played incredibly well and it was definitely better than we hoped, and that’s something that can’t go without celebrating in my books,” Eaton said.