WOODBURY– As the holidays approach, it brings parents, students, and staff together for Nonnewaug’s Thanksgiving tradition of the Powderpuff and Cornbowl football games.

On Nov. 24, 2025, the teachers, other student players, and junior and senior girls, all gather to battle in their respective games.

The Cornbowl ended in a triumphant win from the teachers, 30-22, for their 3 years in a row. The teachers and seniors played a great game while presenting a very entertaining and fun game to watch.

Henry Keil, a senior and one of the quarterbacks for the game, thought the game went well even if they didn’t end up with the desired win.

“The cornbowl went well, it was a competitive game and everyone was having fun and enjoying it,” said Keil. “Even though we lost to the teachers, I think we put up a great fight and had a great chance. We had a lot of fun between the game and practicing together and overall had a great experience playing.”

Another senior for the senior team, James Wolf, knew the team could have done better if they took the game more seriously, but in the end realized it’s just about fun with friends.

“We should’ve not goofed around and practiced as much and actually practiced,” said Wolf. “I haven’t played flag football since elementary school so it was fun to play with those guys again. We tried our best to do as much as we could, next year hopefully the juniors will be more organized with the plays and hopefully they can actually remember the plays unlike us.”Quote from teacher
In a surprising turn of events, the junior team won the Powderpuff. At the start the senior girls were putting up a good fight but in the end the junior girls took the lead and took the victory.

“The energy was so up,” says center and defense for the junior team, Kailey Meeker Townsend. “A big highlight was at the end when we just kind of knew that we were going to win.”

The juniors became the underdogs of the game ending the night with a score of 28-22.

“I honestly think my own play, both my touchdowns were crazy, and I think Audrey [Doran], Jordan [Kovach], and I running the ball was the highlight of the game,” says running back for the junior team, Greta Addeo.

Not only did the players give it their all but the coaches played a huge role in getting these teams to be what they are.

“It’s been really fun coaching so far.” says coach for the junior team, Max Nichols. “We’ve had a couple struggles with figuring out how every player fits into the team and also how the coaches should balance their talents of coaching but overall we have a really talented roster and a lot of people who could make a big play.”

Meeker Townsend was aware of the flaws that came with the team and knew more could have been improved but after everything was a bit more figured out it was smooth sailing.

“The only thing I would say was at the beginning, we weren’t aggressive enough, and so that’s why we kept on losing the ball and stuff,” said Meeker Townsend. “Towards the end, once we realized that we can actually tackle the people, we started doing that. And yeah, the coaches were great. We did have some moments where every coach wanted to have an input. But after that, we kind of figured out who the main coaches were. And then went on from there.”

Olivia Gwiazdoski, a senior who played in the game, wasn’t too happy with the loss but knew they played well even though they lost.

“I think the game went well considering we only had two practices. It definitely was the best to lose to the class below us but we had fun, win or lose,” said Gwiazdoski. “We definitely played better this year than last year, I think we were more focused and prepared compared to last year. We also used all of our practice time wisely focusing on plays we knew would work that definitely differed from last year. Overall I think it was a really fun experience even with the loss.”