Paly’s first Powder Puff intramural football games both played to draws Friday afternoon, with the seniors making a late surge to catch the freshmen, 14-14, and the juniors using last-minute runs to knot up the score, 7-7. The overtime periods were postponed to allow players and spectators time to prepare for the varsity football CCS final against Menlo-Atherton.

Rules in the games were modified from those of traditional football, as quarters were shortened to five minutes and players were given flags for defenders to tear off instead of making tackles. The field was shortened by 20 yards on each side, and ASB president Mohammed Abid and Paly teacher Adam Yonkers volunteered as referees.

In the first game, the seniors faced off against the freshmen, who took the ball first. Despite intense pressure on the quarterback from senior Xio Pinto, the freshmen used laterals on consecutive plays to rush for an early score, which put them up, 7-0.
The seniors tried to respond with the same pitch play on their first drive but were stopped behind the line of scrimmage and threw an interception to turn the ball over. Another backward pitch helped the freshmen score again on their next drive to double their lead, 14-0.

Pinto helped the seniors rally on the next drive as she broke through freshmen attempting to pull off her flags on a run to within 10 yards of the end zone. Senior Morgan Pichinson finished the effort with a touchdown on the next play to pull the seniors within seven.

Senior Susan Haynes nearly intercepted the first pass of the next freshman drive, and the offense also dropped the next two passes to surrender the ball to the seniors on downs. The upperclassmen got another long run from Pinto and on the final play of the game gave it to Pichinson again, who rushed for her second score of the day to save the seniors from a loss. Student Activities Director Allison Davies called the game a tie and decided not to begin an immediate overtime.

“[The second touchdown] was that much better,” Pichinson said, “because you know that we tied or we won.”

The next match pitted the junior girls against their sophomore counterparts, who took the ball deep into opposing territory on the game’s opening play. But the junior run defense prevented the sophomores from finishing the drive in a touchdown. The scoreless tie was broken in the second quarter when the sophomores made a successful run down the sideline to take a 7-0 advantage. The two teams then each turned the ball over on downs before junior Lizzie Henehan sprinted down the field to tie the game for the juniors at 7-7 on the final play.

The games between classes were friendly, but all teams were aggressive on defense, not wanting to lose in the Paly’s first games. Pichinson had some advice for future Powder Puff players: “Wear clothes that you want to get ripped. If you try to look pretty, it won’t work out.”

According to Davies, the tie games will probably be decided by rematches in the quad at lunch on either Dec. 5 or 6. The winners will face each other after school on Dec. 7.