Oak Park High School’s Powerpuff game is an annual opportunity for senior and junior girls to bring their athleticism to flag football. Around a month prior to the game, the two teams have weekly late night practices coached by the boy’s football team to prepare.
On April 28, the junior and senior teams gathered on the football field to put their month of hard work to play. Friends and family members of the players filled stands with signs and cheers as the girls ran routes, caught touchdown passes and played incredible defense. This year, the seniors brought home their third victory in a row, winning by a 28-8 landslide against the juniors.
Seniors
For the seniors, Powerpuff is a tradition they can participate in for two years. The game is competitive for both teams and is a great senior activity in the last weeks of highschool. Many girls on the senior team played as juniors in the 2023-2024 game and after a slim loss last year, were determined to earn themselves a victory as seniors this year. But beyond the competitive spirit of many of these athletes, teamwork and friendship seem to be the highlight of the players’ experience.
“I loved getting to know everyone and [I created] more friends through Powerpuff,” senior Allison Hoffman said.
Senior Julia Hoffman, who got to play flag football in the fall season, had a great time alongside her friends and teammates.
“My favorite part of the game was probably when I scored my first touchdown. Everyone blocked really well, so it made it easier for me to get past the juniors,” Julia Hoffman said. “I also enjoyed hyping up my teammates and celebrating them whenever they scored a touchdown or pulled flags.”
The game took many hours of hard work and preparation to teach the players how to play flag football and work as a team.
“The practices leading up to the game were some of my favorite memories of the senior activity,” Allison Hoffman said.
Juniors
Although numerous girls on the team played flag football in the fall, the juniors still took time to prepare as a team. Junior Atisha Karimi played flag football in the fall and for the two years it has been offered at OPHS.
“The practices were two days a week from seven to nine PM. At first we were trying to teach the new people the basics, such as catching and throwing the ball, as well as running routes,” Karimi said. “As the days went on we figured out good positions for each player and sectioned everyone out into separate groups to have a more centralized practice.”
The game was pretty fun, but it didn’t go exactly how I thought,” Karimi said. “The seniors ended up winning with a pretty big lead.”
Although the game was still flag football, the girls got to play under different rules from the fall season..
“My favorite part of the game was probably playing on O line as it’s not a part of actual flag football,” Karimi said.
During the first quarter, the juniors were ahead 8-6, this led those in the crowd supporting the juniors with lots of excitement.
“My favorite part of watching the game was seeing how excited the girls got from both classes,” junior Lexi Lavintman said. “I made posters for three of my friends and cheered regardless of the score.”
