Blacksburg High powder puff game benefits area families

Blacksburg High senior and junior girls faced off in a flag football powder puff game to benefit "Thanksgiving Baskets" and a local food pantry. Photo by Mike Shaw | The Burgs.

BLACKSBURG — More than 60 students from Blacksburg High School hit the gridiron Saturday to benefit a school-organized program called Thanksgiving Baskets and a local food pantry.

Senior and junior girls at the school participated in Blacksburg High’s first “powder puff” football game in more than 12 years.
The senior girls’ team faced off against the junior girls’ team in a friendly flag-football matchup.

More than 200 people attended, and admission to the game was two canned-food items. Freshman Leah Graves estimated that at least 250 cans had been collected.

Callie Friedberg, a senior participating in the game, said the canned goods will be used in the school’s Thanksgiving Baskets, which are filled with food and handed out to families in need around Thanksgiving.

Senior Alexa Linker said although the game was for a good cause, she was also excited about the opportunity to help continue to build school spirit at Blacksburg High.

“This is our first time doing it in a really long time, and we’re all really excited because we have a lot more school spirit this year,” Linker said. “It’s fun to get out and play in front of a bunch of fans.”

Linker’s classmate and teammate, Lindsey Cusimano, said the two teams took the game very seriously, while remembering the cause they were playing for and having fun on a Saturday afternoon.

“We had two or three practices a week,” Cusimano said. “It’s been really fun getting the football team and both junior and senior classes together to have a little fun.”

Freshman Melissa Wharton, who was helping Graves collect the canned goods, said she hopes the game will become a new tradition at the school over the next few years.

“I think it’s a really good idea because it takes a game we all really know and puts a twist on it and gets everyone involved,” Wharton said.

“I hope it’s here when I’m a senior. It’d be really fun for this to be an annual tradition.”

The seniors won the game 28-6. The game MVP was senior Alyn Carr.

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