Ladies to take over this weekend

There’s more to Powder Puff football than just a game between the girls of Thanksgiving Day rival schools.View Photo GalleryAccording to those who coach it, the games – whatever they’re called – represent a chance for girls from different walks of school life to bond, and to be a part of something unique and memorable.”It’s the biggest thing these girls do, outside of the prom, every year,” said English’s Dick Newton, who, once again, will direct the Bulldogs in Sunday’s game against Classical (Manning Field, 1). “You get your athletes, but from all the time I’ve been doing this, the one thing that always happens is that someone you don’t hear much about – they don’t play anything because they have other commitments – come up and do very well. That seems to happen every year.”The coaches – or, in some cases, advisers – of English, Classical, Swampscott and Marblehead came into their roles in different ways. Newton was asked by English principal Tom Strangie because he felt it was better to have an adult be in charge.”It was hard for the students,” said Newton, referring to English’s practice of having players from the varsity football team coach. “They have their own game to prepare for, and it was a lot to ask of them.”Classical’s Rob Smith began coaching to help out his friend, Jay Alicudo. Another assistant, Lewis Reynolds, joined them at the same time. With Alicudo’s death last January, both Smith and Reynolds vowed to carry on.”We’re doing this for Jay,” said Smith. “We’re dedicating the game to him. All of the girls on the team were affected by his death.”Among Alicudo’s best friends was Newton, who played opposite him in the 1976 Classical-English game, a 7-0 win by the Rams in one of the most historic games in the memorable rivalry (whichever team won was going to go to the Division 2 Super Bowl). They always enjoyed coaching in this game against each other.Alicudo started the tradition of a big pizza party after the game – something Smith and Newton will continue this year at the Brotherhood on Coburn Street.Similar to Smith and Newton, Joe Tenney of Swampscott and Jacqueline Bouchard of Marblehead enjoy the flag football experience (the preferred term for that game). This year, the teams will play at Blocksidge Field at 11 a.m. Saturday – and Bouchard’s players are very well aware that in late November, that could be one of the coldest spots in the area.”We practice outdoors (at Gatchell Park) and at night,” she says, “because they girls want to make sure they’re prepared for the cold.”Bouchard is a Marblehead graduate and played in the game herself. And she loves her role as adviser to the game, because she feels it helps unite different factions within the school, and puts them on a path of growth.”I love seeing the girls play, and I love being around them and seeing them grow into mature young women,” she said.A sidelight to the Swampscott-Marblehead rivalry is that proceeds from the game are used to donate money to a charity … usually cancer, Bouchard says, but not always. After Marblehead’s Allie Castner was struck by a car and killed in August of 2009, the teams donated to her scholarship fund that November. This year, they hope to donate money to the cancer fund set up for one of the Marblehead team managers’ mother.Tenney took over eight years ago from Mike Legere, and says coaching the Big Blue players has been an annual highlight of his life.”We get everyone together,” says Tenney, who coaches indoor track at Swampscott. “Some of the girls have played, and then come out for track in the winter. Both he and Bouchard are special education teachers for their respective schools, and find that their experiences coaching put them in contact with kids they might not interact with during the school day.”And for us,” said Tenney, referring to his assistants, “we are the advisers to this class. We’ve seen them grow through four years of being with them. So this one’s really special for us.”All the rosters are peppe