It’s time for Powder Puff

As part of the Thanksgiving tradition, the senior girls from Marblehead and Swampscott high schools will face off again this year in their annual powder puff football contest at Piper Field at 10 a.m. on Saturday.This year’s teams has a tough act to follow as the two rivals took their annual pre-Thanksgiving clash to new heights last year. For the first time, the teams had to go into overtime to decide the outcome.And it didn’t take just one overtime, played under college rules. It wasn?t until the second overtime that Swampscott stuffed the Magicians on a 2-point conversion to preserve a 28-26 win at Blocksidge Field.For Swampscott adviser/coach Joe Tenney, last year’s game was great to be a part of.?That being the first (overtime game) ever, it was awesome,” Tenney said. “And we’d really like to be able to defend it this year.”The Big Blue has 86 girls in the senior class and Tenney expects that somewhere between 55 and 63 will be in uniform for kickoff on Saturday. There will be plenty of familiar faces to those who follows sports in the area on the sideline for Swampscott.Calling the signals behind center for the Big Blue will be Emma Faulkner and Sam Rizzo, both of whom are standouts in several sports and bring their big arms from the softball diamond to quarterback.When they put the ball in the air, expect most of the passes to be in the direction of Anya Peterson and Gina Asipenko. Asipenko is coming off a volleyball season that saw her named a Northeastern Conference all-star for the Big Blue.In the backfield, Tenney says that he has six or seven different players that can run in different situations. Up front the offensive line is led by centers Julia Potter and Hannah Dennis.?We have a lot of very good players,” Tenney said.On defense, Tenney cited Ally Sanchez and Kathryn Rockwell as two of the players who have been leaders during the practices leading up to the game.On Wednesday, both team?s captains along with Tenney and Marblehead coach/adviser Jacqui Bouchard held their annual pregame dinner, a tradition in which Tenney takes great pride.?It went pretty well. (Marblehead) has a great group of girls and I know that it?s going to be a great game,” Tenney said.This is the 11th year that Tenney has been part of the game and he is assisted by his other class adviser, Joe Bennett.?He really does all of the work that goes into this,” Tenney said of Bennett. “I don’t think that I could do this without his help. We are pretty excited and ready to get going on Saturday.”On the other side, 80 of the 115 girls in the Marblehead senior class have been out to practice. That gives coach/adviser Bouchard plenty of options.?These girls are very excited,” Bouchard said. “They are really ready to get going (on Saturday),” We’ve had to add time to each quarter in practice so we can get everyone in.”Marblehead will look to quarterbacks Hannah Fobert and Emily Messinger to lead the way on offense. Bouchard also said that she has several running backs that can fly and will all split time in the backfield.Assisting Bouchard are several of the school football players including Liam Healy, Matt Gillis, Nathan Maselek and Cian Sanders.?They really are very excited about helping out,” Bouchard said. “They come to practice prepared every day. They have everything laid out and they are just as pumped up as the girls.”Each year, the host team designates a charity to receive the proceeds of the game. This year, the money will be donated to Julie’s Family Learning Program in Boston, a community-based support and education program helping low-income, female-headed families break the cycle of poverty.While winning the game is important, Bouchard also is quick to acknowledge that it’s not all about who comes out on top on the scoreboard.?The whole point is being able to help our charity,” Bouchard said. “We definitely want to win and I don’t want to see any tears on the field after the game. But it?s really all about the charity.”