Homecoming week is full this year with the Friday Night Lights football game against Free State, spirit days, assemblies, the dance, a powder puff and what many male athletes are signing up for: the buff puff.
This is more than just a lighthearted game to excite students for homecoming. The 2024 Buff Puff was a clash between sport-winning athletes, each attempting to claim the title as winner. The buff puff was split into four teams with around six players each. The teams consisted of the senior one team, senior two team, junior team and sophomore team. Each competitor met in the middle of the main gym for a group meeting with Mr. Falcon.
The winner must win by two, and the winners of the first two games determined who would make it to the championship. Sophomores and senior team one is on court one. Juniors and senior team two is on court two. The teams fall off the courts volleyball lines as they decide game plans.
The first sets began with a rocky start for juniors and sophomores as both the senior teams were spiking successfully. Beckett Petermann and Cash Johnson worked as a power team to consistently set each other up for spikes.
On the other side of the gym, the seniors were overpowering their hits and losing easy points. The juniors were serving consistently giving them a lead for half of the set, but the next set remained.
On the other side, the seniors had already won 11-15, kicking the sophomores out of contention. Now, the seniors and sophomores that had finished their set moved to watch the other seniors and juniors finish their match. The score was 13-1, juniors, and Ava Whiteing was coaching the senior team aggressively. After her speech, the seniors were able to gain 2 more points that put the score at 13-14, juniors. With a free ball over the net going over the out of bounds line, the juniors got the point. The match ended 13-15 in the juniors’ favor.
In the loser’s bracket, seniors and sophomores ended with the sophomores winning easily 15-5. Sophomore Olivia Davies believed that in order to win, both competing teams would need to implement a variety of things.
“I think they need to block-pass the ball, like stay deep and pass the ball well. I think they’re hitting really well,” Davies said.
The championship began with both winning teams, juniors and senior team one. The game started with a quick 2-2 tie and seniors had the ball for serving. Senior Beckett Petermann was able to block for another point however, senior Justin Eades fumbled for a new tie at 3-3. This cycle continued with seniors allowing juniors to get points off of seniors’ mistakes in simple passing.
Each team was head to head going back and forth with spikes as players were spot hitting empty spaces. With more spikes the seniors reached game point 14-9 when senior Justin Eades served out of bounds creating an even closer game, 14-10. The student section was full of seniors yelling for a win. The seniors won 15-10. Senior Cash Johnson ran over to the trophy with his team.
“I mean, whenever you win it last year, you know, you come in with a sense of security, you gotta protect your title. So I mean, I don’t want to say I knew we were gonna win, but I had a good feeling,” Johnson said.
The second senior team ended in fourth place, in third place the sophomores and in second was the juniors. Senior team one finished in first place with two out of two wins. Senior Justin Eades posed for cameras with the winning trophy.
“Oh, it’s electrifying man, you know. Me and the boys, we love coming out here. You know, it’s a great feeling. I wish we could do it again,” Eades said.
To finish off the night, both senior teams played each other in a quick game for fun allowing senior team one to leave still undefeated with an extra win under their belt. It was an amazing day for the winning seniors.
