By Jaylynn Donaldson ’25
The annual Derby vs. Shelton powderpuff game happened on Tuesday, November 21st. This is Derby’s second time competing and beating Shelton in a powderpuff game. The Derby powderpuff team annihilated the Shelton Gales with a score of 30-6.
Powderpuff is a girl’s flag football game where they play against rival schools. Football coach and health teacher Matthew Nicolari coached the Derby powderpuff team. The football players cheered on the girls and were coached by English teacher Nicole Borges. The rivalry between Derby and Shelton makes the tensions high and the game more enjoyable and exciting
Nicolari said, “It is always exciting coaching the girls in powderpuff. They show up with a lot of energy and they’re always very excited. It’s something I look forward to every year.” Nicolari explained that coaching the girls is like a breath of fresh air because they are always excited to learn and determined to win. Nicolari was very proud of the girl’s win. He proudly said, “Of course, I was super excited when they won. I fully believed that they would win from the first day of practice when I saw how well we did. I’m proud of every single one of them but they worked super hard to get there and they earned it.”
Any girl in any grade can participate in powderpuff. Many girls who did powderpuff for the first time this year said they would recommend powderpuff and even do it again. This year was Nancy Barillas Ramirez’s ’24 first time participating in powderpuff. Ramirez said, “The environment on the team was really good! Everybody had great energy and there was no negativity. The team was pretty good too, everybody tried their best!”.
Kylin Santamaria ‘24 has joined powderpuff for three years straight. She explained to me how they practiced which influenced their big win. She explains, “At the practices, everyone was locked in and having fun at the same time, but we were getting down at practice and you know going over the plays and everything. Even before that the other girls would go to the field and throw the ball and stuff so we were really excited about it.” Santamaria said that the win was a memory she will always have with her, especially since it was her senior year.
The football players become cheerleaders for the game and they hyped up the girls of powderpuff. Borges explained that even though teaching the boys cheers was stressful it was still fun and the boys were enthusiastic. She said that the boys’ cheering helped boost the girls’ confidence.
One of the powderpuff cheerleaders, Jaylen Titus ’25, excitedly spoke with me about what it was like at practice. He said, “We went to the baseball field and we went over a lot of routines and dance moves. It was fun! There was a lot of yelling, a lot of play fighting and just arguing and running. There is a lot of entertainment!” Titus was also very hyped about the game. He exclaimed, “It was amazing, you know, last second there was about to be a brawl. Shelton lost for the second year in a row. It was fun. I cheered for the teams and I would do it again!”. Many girls of powderpuff found the boys’ cheering helpful and uplifting.
The Raider Press 