Despite the rainy and dreary conditions outside, students of all grades excitedly filled the gym bleachers.

Female students in their designated grade shirts warmed up with their teams while the crowd hummed with excitement.

The crowd then grew even rowdier when male cheerleaders, dressed in scandalous outfits, entered the scene.

Soon, Coach Flood blew the whistle and the Powderpuff football games began

Powderpuff, the annual Spirit Week event where students partake in football games with swapped gender roles: female students become the football players while their male counterparts become the cheerleaders, took place yesterday. Two football games were played concurrently — the seniors competed against the juniors and the sophomores compete against the freshmen.

Though every grade gave a valiant effort, there could only be two winners. The seniors ended up defeating the juniors while the sophomores defeated the freshmen. The senior team scored the same number of points as the sophomore team, but in their respective games.

 While winning was the obvious goal, all students ended up having fun, regardless of who won or lost. “I thought it was really fun,” Aliza Lustbader, freshman, said.

Jenna Lee, sophomore, agreed: “I didn’t realize how intense it was, but I got a good tackle going.”

The games included action-packed dives, interceptions and close calls.

When a grade’s respective team won a point, groups of students circled up to jump and chant in unison. The cheerleaders also ran around the gym with skirts and orange and blue pom-poms, all while energetic girls fumbled and fought for the football.

To their pleasant surprise, some winners were even in shock that their own teams had won.

“I was surprised that we won because the freshmen are really fast and athletic,” Lee said.  They were really good.”

Vanessa Anderson, senior, also did not expect to win.

“It was really kind of a surprise because I never play tag football,” Anderson said. “I feel really good. It was really fun.”

For Anderson, and many of the seniors, however, the game meant more than just gender-swapped football; it was the realization that events like these would soon be no more.

“It’s crazy that it’s the last year that I’m here at North,” Anderson said.