Last Sunday morning, members of the Greek community congregated on Homewood Field for Greek Life’s Powderpuff Football Tailgate. The games — which were hosted by the Office of Greek Life — pitted sororities against each other in several rounds of flag football.
The Powderpuff Football tournament served as the culmination of Greek Week. Coached by brothers from five of the University’s fraternities, the sisters from Theta, Kappa, Phi Mu, Alpha Phi and Pi Phi all competed for Greek Week points in the tournament. The bracket provided for three rounds, and the field was split in half to make room for two simultaneous games.
Going into the game, Alpha Phi was in first place in Greek Week, ahead of Pi Phi by 11 points. Yet despite Alpha Phi’s best efforts to hold their lead during the competition, they were defeated by Kappa in the first round.
Pi Phi, however, bested their opponent, Theta, to advance to the finals against Phi Mu, thus potentially securing enough points for Pi Phi to overcome Alpha Phi’s earlier Greek Week lead. As of press time, the results of Greek Week were not yet made available.
Phi Mu ultimately ended up winning the Powderpuff competition, and the sisters were very enthusiastic about the event.
“Powderpuff was one of the most fun Greek Week events!” Phi Mu senior Jordan Bleibtreu wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “It brought out a fun, competitive side of the sororities and fraternities and really brought together the Greek community as a whole.”
Phi Mu won Powderpuff last year as well.
“It felt great defending our championship for the second year in a row...especially after a whole week of early morning practices!” Bleibtreu wrote.
The Phi Mu girls were coached by the brothers of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, who had been hard at work drawing up gameplays since before the start of the semester.
“They were so awesome! They started putting together plays this summer!” Bleibtreu wrote.
In addition to the football games, the event featured the Theta Tailgate and Beta’s Corn Hole Classic. Hosted in tandem by the sisters of Kappa Alpha Theta and the brothers of Beta Theta Pi, the day consisted of countless games of Corn Hole, free food for all attendees and an autumn-themed bake sale.
Beta’s Corn Hole Classic has been a long-standing tradition at Hopkins; this year, all of their proceeds went to the Wounded Warrior Project, which supports injured veterans and their families as they are returning home from their missions around the world.
“We are very proud to have raised funds for the Wounded Warrior Project, an organization we have raised money for before,” Hank Strmac, Beta’s public relations chairman, said.
The corn hole component of the day’s events included open play as well as a single-elimination tournament that took place just off of the field. Tournament competitors were required to provide a donation of a minimum of $5. The winners of the Corn Hole Classic, a team made up of two brothers from the Sigma Chi fraternity, received the grand prize: a $150 gift card to PJ’s Pub.
Dozens of corn hole fans showed up to take part in the annual Hopkins tradition.
“We had a great time hanging out and playing some corn hole while cheering on the football teams,” Strmac said.
The sisters of the University’s newly revived sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, were responsible for organizing and hosting the tailgate. The Theta sisters provided complimentary tailgate grub, such as hamburgers and hotdogs, in addition to selling an array of homemade fall treats for their bake sale. Hot chocolate was also served to keep all of the players and spectators warm on what was a brisk November morning.
All of the bake sale proceeds went to Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), which raises funds to support neglected children in the court and foster care systems. The Theta sisters raised over $100 in donations for CASA.
Theta and Beta were excited to work together for the first time since Theta’s recolonization.
“Theta was happy to host our first major event with Beta geared towards the entire student body. We advertised extensively and were happy to see that many students stopped by the tailgate and Corn Hole Classic and stayed to watch the Powderpuff games,” senior Hayley Normile, a member of the Theta Marketing Committee, wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
Strmac agreed that their joint efforts were successful.
“It was a great pleasure working alongside Theta, and Beta looks forward to working with them again in the future,” Strmac said.
The Theta sisters were pleased with the turnout and had a successful day both on and off the field.
“The Theta presence was strong, with women at the bake sale tables, on the sidelines cheering on the Theta Powderpuff team and on the field playing into double-overtime,” Normile wrote.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our powderpuff team,” Theta Team Captain Kelly Dunn wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “We practiced ridiculously hard and really came together on the field.”
Attendees and organizers alike considered the event a success overall. Members of the Greek community bonded and were given a chance to show their pride in their sororities and fraternities. And as the event’s Facebook invitation read, “Nothing screams November like tailgating and football!”
