Gough dominated “Dallup” (a team made up of students from Doane and Gallup) in this year’s PowderPuff Super Bowl on Nov. 7. “It was a very quick game, on a very cold day,” junior Lauren Rabeler, head of PowderPuff said.
Although “Dallup” was the first to score in the Super bowl, Gough made its comeback and won the game, 21-7.
According to junior Justin Molfese, coach of Gough, the first interception was returned from the five yard line by first-year Karin Wolset of Gallup.
Gough’s defense, led by junior Reynell Price and senior Jackie Howard, held true and allowed no points to be scored against them.
“The defense had two interceptions on the day on their way to shutting down the second highest scoring team in the league,” Molfese said.
The offense, led by RB senior Lindsey Moosey, answered with a quick response in the form of a long touchdown run.
“She (Moosey) also accounted for the other two touchdowns scored with great down the field blocks by sophomore Jamie Schwartz and senior Abby Briggs,” Molfese said.
Senior Tiffany Snyder led the offensive line to a dominating day, allowing only two sacks.
“It was a fairly competitive game,” Rabeler said. In the beginning of the year, Gough was seen as the leading contender due to their large size and the selection of talent that they had. “Dallup” was a much smaller team and often relied on their speed and ability to dodge the hands that tried to grab their flags.
In the beginning, there were over 30 girls playing for Gough. As time went by, numbers dwindled. However, Gough’s team remained the largest. Along with having the most players, Gough also had a multitude of student coaches and assistants.
Most PowderPuff team’s had one to three coaches. However, Molfese, alum Matt DeFranza, first-year Dominic Burford, first-year Mitch Eddy, junior Kyle Lukens and senior Joe Ferry coached the winning team to victory.
“The Super Bowl came down to not only ability, but also trying to fool the opponent,” Rabeler said. “I know both of the head coaches well, and they know the game very well, and were therefore able to help carry their team to the best of their players’ abilities.”
Molfese has coached the winning PowderPuff team two years in a row. He admits to having a few tricks up his sleeve. “We taught the girls position-specific skills,” he said. “We also came up with a new strategy for each team weekly to best give us an edge on the competition.”
Molfese believes that he was able to develop a system on offense and defense, maximizing the girls’ potential. These techniques paid off when Gough won all nine games during the season.
Gough team members were awarded by having their name and year engraved on the faceplate of a trophy.
“I taught the girls that this was their team,” Molfese said. “This wasn’t Justin’s team. It was Gough’s team, and I was proud to be a part of it.”