Powder Puff Football 2010

Head Coach Jay Alicudo meets with the team moments before the start of the game.

Photos by Zachary Culp

Captains  Hannah Byrne and Katherine Javier, Cynthia Ouelette, and Gabrielle Galeazzi, Ana Tobon, and Marina Fernandez were Co-Captains.

Shawna Henry, an outstanding athlete from English, ran away with the game.

Our Cheerleaders were quite energetic.

Although not padded, the players must wear mouthpieces.

ALTHOUGH IT WAS A LOSS FOR CLASSICAL GIRLS, A PIZZA PARTY WITH THE OTHER TEAM AFTER THE GAMES SMOOTHED THE DAY.

Shawna Henry leads English Powder Puff past Classical

By Joyce Erekson / The Daily Item

LYNN -- It's all about speed, and there was no one who could slow down, let alone stop, Shawna Henry when she turned on the burners and headed for the end zone.

Henry scored three touchdowns and kicked four extra points to lead English to a 34-0 romp over the Rams Sunday in girls football (aka Powder Puff) at Manning Field.

This one was never in doubt. Henry scored on the Bulldogs' first two possessions of the game to give English a 14-0 lead that was never in jeopardy.

Although Henry had to miss some practices due to college visits, she was a quick study.

"She picked up everything really quickly," English coach Dick Newton said. "She's a smart player. She was by far one of the fastest if not the fastest player on the field. Without speed in this game, you can't win. She had that something extra that we needed. She opened a lot of things up for us."

Henry's first touchdown came on the Bulldogs' opening drive of the game on a reverse sweep right. She made it around the Classical defense and raced 43 yards for the score. She also kicked the extra point (her first of four) for a 7-0 English lead.

Henry, a Northeastern Conference soccer all-star, is no stranger when it comes to kicking a ball, but she made the extra point attempts look easy by hitting four of five.

"It was pretty easy," Henry said. "I'm used to doing goal kicks."

English got the ball on the Classical 40 on its next possession and after a one-yard pickup, Henry struck again, this time on a reverse sweep to the left and the only thing that kept her out of the end zone on that run was a nice play by Classical's Marina Fernandez that stopped her at the 13. Henry was stopped cold on her next attempt, but the third time was a charm when she scored on a 13-yard run and kicked the extra point for a 14-0 English lead.

Classical struggled with poor field position the entire game. After going four and out after the English touchdown, the Bulldogs were at it again. This time it was Lashaunda Hogan doing the bulk of the damage. English got the ball on the Classical 17 and after getting stonewalled at the one, Hogan took it in from the one. Another successful Henry kick gave the Bulldogs a hefty 21-0 lead.

The Rams were finally able to stop English on their next drive, but the Bulldog defense wasn't giving anything back. The second half didn't go much better for Classical. A roughing the passer call gave the Bulldogs the ball at the 31-yard line and they took advantage of the gift a couple of plays later when Henry, on third-and-eight from the 12, found some running room down the left sideline and went the distance for the touchdown and a 28-0 lead (Henry kick).

English scored its final touchdown late in the third quarter when Brianna Vaughan broke one for an 18-yard run down the right side for a 34-0 final (Henry's kick went wide).

The Rams, with quarterback Hannah Byrne and running back Tashanna Brown accounting for the bulk of the carries, had a tough time penetrating the English defense. Byrne completed a nice pass to Brown for a nine-yard pickup late in the game and followed up with a one-yard pass to Gabbi Galeazzi for a first down, giving Classical fans hope of spoiling the shutout. Byrne raced 37 yards to the English 27 for the Rams' longest run of the day, but the drive fizzled on the 26.

"They were fast," Classical coach Jay Alicudo said. "But they were also more aggressive than we were."

Byrne's assessment of the game was to the point.

"They outplayed us," she said.

One thing players on both sides agreed on is that the annual football game is something girls have looked forward to since their freshman year.

"You know it's kind of the beginning of the end," Henry said, referring to the fact that the football game is the first of many experiences that mark their senior year and the end of their high school experience.

Vaughan said the game is something players have been looking forward to since they were in middle school watching their predecessors battle it out.

For the basketball and soccer players on the English team, it kept their streak of winning against Classical intact, which is something they want to see continue through their senior year.

Brown said even though her team lost, players came together as a family.