What's Happening in Cougar Country

What's wrong with a little competition amongst friends?

Well on Friday, April 21st, it was all about competition amongst classes. 

The classes of 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 all competed throughout the school day in the Third Annual Cougar Games - an Olympic-style competition in which the classes compete in certain games to determine an overall winner. The was finished off with the Annual Powder Puff game - pitting the senior girls against the junior girls in flag football. 

For the second time in three year, the Class of 2023 (the seniors) won the Cougar Games. 

But they fell to the juniors, who came from behind, scored on the last play of regulation and then won the Powder Puff game in overtime, 36-30.

COUGAR GAMES

The seniors won four of the eight competitions to score 28 points on the day-long event and outpace the rest of the school. The juniors (Class of 2024) finished second with 24 points. The sophomores (2025) were third with 20, and the freshmen (2026) were fourth with 8.

The seniors won the inaugural Games back in 2021 as sophomores and were runners-up to the Class of 2022 last year.

They got off to a hot start winning the first four events - dodgeball, basketball, speedball and the obstacle course. The juniors got their first win in soccer, and the sophomores got their only victory in kickball.

The juniors also won Mario Kart and the donation drive - a week-long competition to see which class could collect the most donations to benefit Birthright Lake.

The final results of all the competitions were:

• Dodgeball: 1. Seniors; 2. Juniors; 3. Sophomores; 4 Freshmen
• Basketball: 1. Seniors; 2. Juniors; 3. Sophomores; 4 Freshmen
• Speedball: 1. Seniors; 2. Sophomores; 3. Juniors; 4. Freshmen
• Obstacle Course: 1. Seniors; 2. Sophomores; 3. Juniors; 4. Freshmen
• Soccer: 1. Juniors; 2. Sophomores; 3. Seniors; 4. Freshmen
• Kickball: 1. Sophomores; 2. Seniors; 3. Freshmen; 4. Juniors
• Mario Kart: 1. Juniors; 2. Seniors; 3. Seniors; 4. Juniors
• Donation Drive: 1. Juniors; 2. Sophomores; 3. Seniors; 4. Freshmen

POWDER PUFF

When a team gets the football back with only 11 seconds left and needs to score to just get to the game to overtime, it needs quick-strike capabilities. Luckily for the Class of 2024, that's all its offense was. 

It took the juniors just two plays (calling a timeout between them) to tie the game up as the final horn had sounded.

Once in the extra periods, both teams took turns scoring during the first two overtime sessions. The third session say a new set of rules come into play - one play from the five-yard line. The only way to score was to pass. 

Despite two players in the area, the seniors possession saw their pass fall to the turf. The juniors play developed slowly, but their pass found a receiver, who was shielding her defender, just over the goal line for the winning score.

The touchdown capped off a 12-point comeback for the juniors. 

The seniors moved the ball methodically down the field on all three of their possessions in the first half - all resulting in touchdowns, including the last one with just less than two seconds left in the half. The juniors scored twice on only two plays, getting their fast athletes in space and letting them just run for the endzone. They might have scored on their last possession as well, but their final attempt ended as their runner stepped out of bounds.

The seniors started the second half on defense, but scored on a fumble recovery on the first play of the new period. 

From there, it just the start of the comeback for the juniors.