By Faith Anderson ’25
The DHS girls powderpuff team brought home a win after their 5th annual game against Shelton High on November 18, 2022. The game ended with a score of 35-26, with Kylin Santamaria ‘24 named as MVP after scoring three out of the four touchdowns.
The powderpuff game is an annual girls’ football game that also acts as a Thanksgiving food drive. Scheduled before Thanksgiving every year, people that come to the game donate canned food instead of paying admission. Lots of food was donated this year, making the event a strong charitable event as well as being an exciting student game.
English teacher Nicole Borges and paraeducator Cory Bartone coached a team of cheerleaders, most of which were boys from the DHS football team. The girls’ football team was coached by health teacher and football coach Matthew Nicolari, athletic trainer Dan Perillo, math teacher Ryan Adams, attendance coordinator Jen Moffat, and physical education teacher Carlin Ali. For the game’s offensive lineup, some players included Jamie Orrizetti 24’ as QB, Aliana Campbell 24’, and Addison Brunetti 26’. Defensively was Leah Ludington 23’, Kayla Adams 25’, and Jess Gerckens 24’. All team members deserve recognition for their fantastic team effort!
There were a lot of people attending on both the Shelton and Derby side supporting their teams who played under the lights on the DHS football field. People were dressed warmly, drinking hot chocolate, and enjoying the game on a chilly Friday night. Everybody in the crowd was yelling and cheering on their team, especially the boy cheerleaders at the end of the game.
The girl’s powderpuff team scored their winning touchdown in the final seconds of the game, which ended in double overtime. The cheerleaders began jumping and screaming while the Shelton team stood by. Derby fans were jumping on the bleachers and cheering as well. DHS students rushed the field, a major highlight of the night.
Moffat said after the game, “It’s one of those feelings that you don’t know how to describe, you put in so much work to make sure the kids were prepared for what was going to come at them and what defense they were going to see, for us to be able to score as well as being able to grab the flags and protect the end-zone, so it was just amazing to watch the boys be just as excited as the girls, to celebrate with them, it was very heartwarming to see how involved they had gotten as well.”
The Raider Press 