Seniors take the ‘W’ for the 2024 turkey bowl, and the juniors are not happy.
The cold change in weather isn’t stopping the annual Manchester High School fall tradition. Fueled by school spirit and adrenaline, the class of 2025 won big on Monday night, taking the “W” for the 2024 Manchester High School Turkey Bowl.
The Turkey Bowl, or as older generations may call it, the powder puff football game, is a lighthearted tradition that many schools partake in, in which the girls play flag football, and the boys take the rolls of cheerleaders for the night. At Manchester High School, this game features the 11th vs 12th grade girls, with their male counterparts cheering them on beside the field.
In previous years, the junior girls have dominated the leaderboard, creating what some of the senior girls refer to as “the junior curse.” But the seniors have broken the junior curse this year however, beating the juniors 42 – 36.
This is likely where the rumors began; the class of 2026 claiming that the seniors had an unfair advantage over the score. The rumor spread rapidly, even teachers and staff were aware that “the seniors cheated!”
When questioned about her view on the controversy, Liz Schoeneberger, one of the star players for the senior team said that she was quite unaware of the claims against her team.
However, when surveying other members of the team, there were players much more aware of the rumors. Senior player who requested to remain anonymous, stated her opinion on the root of the rumors.
“They switched the way we were playing” She said, “We went from each team playing a quarter to the first two quarters were split by two teams, and the last three teams switched out, so it was different from last year.”
This, she claims, is where the word cheating began to be thrown around. Stemming from a root of miscommunication, the juniors began their accusations as a way to seemingly express their confusion for the change.
Additionally, a member of the senior team who will be kept anonymous, was disqualified from playing in the game after the usage of physical force in the first quarter. While she was not allowed to continue playing in the game, the juniors were angered by this event, likely adding to the claims against the senior team.
Regardless of who won or who lost, or whether or not the cheating conspiracy has some truth to it, it’s important to remember the charity aspect that comes along with the game. As an entry fee, all individuals coming to the game were asked to donate one non perishable food item. The juniors collected an incredible 120 canned goods, while seniors collected just a bit more, collecting 162 goods, totalling up to 182 all given to MACC (Manchester Area Conference of Churches) Charities.
