by Bryce Phillips

Star Staff

bryce.phillips@elizabethton.com

A battle ensued Wednesday night as the Elizabethton High School  junior and senior powderpuff teams faced off inside Citizen Bank Stadium.

The two teams took to the field to raise funds for the Elizabethton/Carter County Animal Shelter, and ended up pulling in $848.

Calling it powderpuff football is definitely a misnomer as there was nothing “powder” nor “puff” about it. The girls really went at it as the seniors inched by, taking a 12-8 win.

“This is just a good way to come out and have fun while raising money for a good cause,” said junior Ashley Dupew, who rushed in a two-point conversion for the juniors.

All of the seniors points came from Autumn Thomas who sped into the endzone two times, much like her brother Ethan Thomas, who had plenty of Cyclone touchdowns himself during his years with EHS. Autumn Thomas, however, felt her ability to put the ball into the paydirt came from the speed she has developed while running track.

“Track helps a lot,” she said  “They (juniors) are pretty good, but the speed is what you really need.”

Thomas did acknowledge that many people probably thought she got her football moves from her brother.

“Some people might be saying that,” she said with a smile. “They call me ‘Baby-E’ on the team. But you know, speed or being Ethan’s sister, it might all have something to do with it.”

Thomas got the seniors on board early in the first half as she rushed in a 10-yard TD to put her team up 6-0. Shortly after scoring, the seniors had the ball again as Emily Kiser picked off a junior pass. With two big runs by Kiser, the seniors found themselves inside the 10-yard line. A speedy run to the outside by Thomas placed the seniors on the 1-yard line, but the juniors held strong, forcing the seniors to turnover on downs.

After forcing the juniors to punt the ball, the seniors almost scored.  But they were stopped again as junior Kaitlyn Gardner picked off a pass by Kiser to put her teammate on the 1-yard line again. However, the juniors came up short again as they turned the ball on downs.

The seniors’ second scoring drive was the result of an all-out air assault, with Kiser connecting bombs to Kayla Marosites and Kennedy Richardson. The seniors  switched it up with Marosites, tossing one to Kiser, her basketball teammate, to get the seniors within scoring distance.

“Just like on the court we worked well together on the field too,” she said with a laugh.

Thomas capped off the big drive with an 8-yard rushing TD.

In the second half, the juniors had stopped the seniors’ offense, and made things interesting as Haley Burleson broke free for an 80-yard rushing touchdown. And with Ashley Dupew rushing in the two-point conversion, the juniors closed the gap to 12-8.

However, with the clock winding down on their last possession, the juniors were not able to score again as they turned the ball over on down, allowing the seniors to run out the clock.

With a competitive mood in the air, the two teams took things serious, but in the end it was all for fun, Thomas said.

“Yeah,  words were said during the game, but at the end of the day we are all still good friends,” she said.