The stands filled with enthusiastic crowds as the players prepared for the start of the Powderpuff game on Monday, Oct. 7. On the sidelines, the cheer team got in position to hype up the players and audience members. However, the roles were reversed. The girls were on the field with footballs under their arms and flags clipped across their waists, while the boys were in mini skirts and tutus, ready to chant their rehearsed cheers. 

Senior Beth Walls has played football since she was young, so her experience allowed her to take on a leadership role for the team and help the seniors defeat the juniors for the fourth year in a row. This is her second year playing Powderpuff and she returned for the friendships and excitement within the game.

“I met a lot of people that I otherwise wouldn’t have a chance to hang out with,” Walls said. “Overall, it was a lot of fun. This year, I think we were focused going into the game because we knew what to expect. Last year, we were confused on how it was going to all play out, but this year we really were ready to take down the juniors.”

Both teams had an all-male cheer squad supporting them who performed at halftime with a coordinated cheer routine. The seniors had a team dinner before the big game to increase team morale and the juniors went shopping together to ensure their outfits matched.

“I joined Powderpuff because it was something fun to do with a group of friends,” junior Niklas Edstrom said. “My team prepared for [the] halftime show by spending the first few practices brainstorming it, then it was all about getting repetitions. My favorite part about our halftime show was jousting in the beginning.”

The junior cheer team performed for more than just those in attendance, as their routine became widely viewed across the social media platform, Tik Tok. Their cheer coach, junior Molly MacAdam, filmed them during their practices and posted them to her Tik Tok account, @mollyyoooo, which quickly gained popularity. The videos of the team had over 200 thousand views within days, becoming viral across the platform.

“I saw a Tik Tok of another school’s Powderpuff team and thought that it would be cool to show off the juniors,” MacAdam said. “I didn’t expect them to go viral, I just thought it would be funny to post. Once it did go viral, that was pretty cool. I was freaking out when I saw how many views it got because I’ve had videos low key blow up before but not like these.”