Big Blue Girls Flying High For Flag Football

The Big Blue Babes flag football team didn't want their double-session practices to end.

"They were disappointed they had to go home and rest," coach Joe Bennett said as practice wound down in the Swampscott High gym Wednesday night.

The rest he spoke of was for tonight's showdown at 7 on Piper Field in Marblehead when the Swampscott and Marblehead teams clash in their annual flag football game.

It's the Super Bowl of girls sporting events in these parts.

Senior Vy Li, a speedy cornerback on the Swampscott squad, remembers when she was a freshman and witnessed the senior girls screaming in the school hallways about their upcoming powderpuff, flag football game.

Vy didn't understand the excitement then.

Now she does.

She and her teammates will be screaming in the hallway today getting ready the big game.

"I am actually really nervous about it but I think we'll do great," she said.

It's a one-time event. They get one shot, one game in their high school careers to play their rival in football.

There is no way of knowing which team is more prepared for the match-up.

But most senior girls want to be a part of it. The team has about 100 members.

They have come together as a class after going their separate ways since freshmen year.

They have bonded over offense and defense and special teams, over what the team is going to wear, over yelling and singing and laughing.

Many of the girls have their hair in corn rows — another Swampscott flag football game tradition.

Wednesday night their excitement reached fever pitch.

The girls formed a big circle — make that a giant huddle — at center court and sang.

They have their own song for the game.

They sang and they jumped.

Many of them held cell phones reading the song lyrics in emails.

Their voices grew louder as they got use to the rhythm and refrain, their voices rising high to the gym ceiling.

Some of them jumped and turned in pirouettes as they sang. 

"This is their Thanksgiving game," said coach Joe Tenney, "and they work extremely hard and work around many schedules and obstacles to play for their class, school pride, family, friends and themselves."

Swampscott Flag Football 2012 roster Nataliya Andrushchenko 6 Alexandra Aylward 18 Samantha Baldwin 27 Arianna Billias 7 Amanda Boland 3 Rachel Brenner 9 Matty Byron 707 Caroline Carr 95 Erin Cassidy 4 Emily Cerra 6 Alexandra Cohen 39 Stephanie Collins 26 Hannah Connors 13 Renee Cooper 94 Samantha Curren 44 Taylor Dipietro 16 Amshula Divadkar 9-3/4 Nancy Do 11/23 Emma Doherty 51 Rebecca Donnelly 21 Chloe Dorgan 7 Jessica Fagundo 3.14 Talia Faia 22 Elana Feldman 88 Paulina Ferullo 15 Caroline Fillenworth 50 Rebecca Fine 31 Reed Flannery 143 Elizabeth Galvin 42 Bridget Genoversa-Wong 2 Julia Ginsburg 99 Alexa Goldman 5 Lillie Goldman 133 Gabriella Golisano 98 Shauna Gorham 73 Tess Gorman 808 Josephine Gray 25 Anna Greene 23 Alison Grimes 13 Mariah Hanson 19 Michelle Harling 97 Movita Harrigan 54 Leslie Hirshberg 23 Sionna Hopkins 84 Haley Irwin (infinity symbol) Elizabeth Kirby 21 Alyse Lavoie 31 Bridget Lawless 3 Vy Le 6.11 Lauren Legere 7 Amalia Llorente 99 Caitlin Ludke 18 Victoria Malatesta 12 Julieanne Marquis 21 Alexandra Matusevich 86 Marissa McCormack 7 Shannon McGovern 37 Caitlin McNally 17 Lindsay McKinnon 1995 Amanda McTague 12 Claire Michaud 42 Rosalie Moleti 12 Lauren Moran 10 Rachel Moran 9 Lauren Morse 143 Sophia Nardone 53 Candice O'Connor 8 Katherine Pitman 21 Jenna Resnick 17 Gabriella Rizzo 30 Marina Roberts 12x16 Hailey Roccograndi 22 Sydney Rodenstein 12 Cymantha Rogers 100 Lauren Rubin 15 Anna Rusk 666 Katie Samiljan 88 Madeline Schroter 79 Catherine Sheehan 394 Cathryn Singley 11 Maggie Small 14 Tiara Smith-Matthews 8 Brianna Spinney 143 Carrie Stairman 96 Julia Stati 18 Alexa Steriti 34 Michaela Straub 7 Ara Talkov 24 Jacqueline Thomsen 27 Gillian Trask 911 Margaret Upham 14 Alida Van Der Burg 11 Lisa Vu 143 Allegra Walker 51 Emma Walsh 33 Andrea Webster 1 Melinda Wilson 30 Meghan Wynne 55 Ny'cole Young-Thomas 24

Coaches

Danny Trentsch

Filip Kotov

Andy Covino

Declan McClung

Zach Blonder

Joe Bennett

Joe Tenney