Although high school football on Thanksgiving is a long-standing, well known tradition at Wayland High School, a perhaps equally as exciting one for the senior class is the annual powder puff football game. Each year, senior girls from Wayland and Weston face-off in the ultimate flag football game between rival towns. The girls practice for weeks leading up to the event, learning about the game and installing tactics to defeat their opponent.

The game will take place at Weston High School, this Wednesday, Nov. 22. The class of 2018 has spent many hours preparing, with high hopes of bringing home a win after last year’s loss.

Following tradition, this year’s powder puff team is coached by the seniors of the WHS football team.

“I think the girls will be beyond prepared by gametime. A lot of the girls have been improving rapidly, and learning how to play the game quicker than we ever expected,” senior coach Ian Reilly said. “On defense, we have linebackers and safeties attacking the run perfectly, stopping the ball behind the line of scrimmage. Our class is super athletic all around, so we have countless weapons on both sides of the ball.”

Although the girls have been progressing quickly, the coaches still expressed that there were difficulties in teaching a game that is completely new to some of the players.

“It’s hard [to coach] but it’s a lot more fun than I thought it’d be,” senior coach Sean Devlin said. “You really have to understand how much you know and how to transfer that to common knowledge, instead of just saying things that [the coaches] know because we’ve been playing our whole lives.”

Wayland has a few key players who the coaches hope will lead the team to victory on the gridiron. Running back Kayla Mabe is one of these players. As a running back, Mabe’s speed is what will hopefully put points up on the board for Wayland.

“I think our team will be prepared because I think this team will do whatever it takes to make sure we win,” Mabe said.

Another strong player is senior Lauren Stahl. Stahl is a fast wide receiver, and she will receive passes from either of the two quarterbacks, Brooke LaPierre or Emily Pappas.

“So far we have had about one to two practices a week for the past two weeks,” Stahl said. “The football team has done an awesome job training and teaching us the rules of football and basic skills. I definitely think that we will be prepared for the game. We are all focused, excited, and ready to win.”

Even though Wayland lost to Weston last year, the seniors feel confident that they can win this year.

“We lost last year and I refuse to let that happen this year; I think everyone is on the same page,” senior Kayla Mabe said. “Everyone is pumped and ready to take down Weston.”