Plains juniors are Turkey Bowl champs

The Rose Bowl is the oldest and biggest of the college football games, but it's got nothing on the Plains High School "Turkey Bowl," held last Tuesday, the last day of classes for the week before Thanksgiving.

It was a flag football competition between the four high school classes with the freshmen first taking on the juniors and the seniors then battling the sophomores. The two-hour contest was run by the school's National Honor Society students - sophomore Wyatt Butcher, juniors Peyton Wasson and Emory Erchanback, and senior Kallen Burrows - and was assisted by the 15 students of the Jobs For Montana Graduates.

The games were held in the high school gymnasium and refereed by teacher Mike Tatum. The football "field" was only about 70 feet long and nearly 40 feet wide. There were only three downs with only one first down. There were 10 kids on each team, six on the field at a time consisting of three boys and three girls. The opposing team had to be about eight feet from the scrimmage line at the hike. In the kickoff, a player threw the ball to the opposing team and games went for 10 minutes, five minutes for each half.

In the first game, the freshmen faced off against the juniors. Drew Carey scored first to put the juniors on the board and when time ran out, the 11th graders had a 33-0 victory. The senior-sophomore game was a bit closer. The seniors had three Horsemen football players on the team, including Mason Elliott, Joe Pullen, and Levi Blood. Sophomore Eddie Periane, a foreign exchange student from Spain, threw a touchdown pass to Shawn O'Keefe for a 6-0 lead. They failed with the extra point attempt. The seniors pounced back with an Elliott pass to Pullen, followed quickly by a second touchdown to finish the half with a 12-6 senior lead. At the start of the second half, Blood recovered a fumble for a safety and the score was 14-13 with the extra point and the victory.

Next, the two losing teams faced each other in the "Toilet Bowl." On the kickoff, Periane took the ball all the way to take the lead and with the extra point it was 7-0. It wasn't long before a Periane pass to Maddie Blood gave the sophomores a 19-0 score. With 52 seconds left in the half, Periane ran in for another TD to make it 25-0. The game finished 31-0 with the sophomores ahead.

The championship game was 15 minutes long with no halftime. The juniors drew first blood with Carey running into the end zone and following it up with a Carey pass to Brenden Vanderwall for the extra point. Carey scored again, but a long pass by Elliott that bounced off the wall and into Carlie Wagoner's hands was ruled a touchdown by Tatum, putting the seniors on the board. The juniors came right back, but a Pullen to Elliott pass made the score 20-12. With only 36 seconds left, Nicholas Hill passed to Gabe "Manchild" Rasmussen and gave the juniors another touchdown, the championship, and a $5 gift card.

"It went really well and they had fun," said Heather Worrall, the NHS advisor. "The juniors were really ready to win this year," she said, adding that she was pleased that the JMG students were there to help with the games. She said that they couldn't have done the event without the JMG help.

Some of the organizers got into the Thanksgiving mode by wearing turkey gloves and turkey caps . Organizers held drawings and Thanksgiving trivia contests during halftimes and between games. McGowan Grocery donated four turkeys that were given away. Game and trivia prizes ranged from candy bars to $10 gift certificates.

"I think it went really well and they had fun," said Worrall, who wants to run it next year, too. This was the second year that Worrall was the NHS advisor and coordinated the Turkey Bowl. Staff members were unsure of how long they've held a Turkey Bowl, but believe it's been several years. JMG will have their annual Christmas Brain Bash competition in late December. Students from seventh grade to seniors will participate in the Brain Bash. Seventh and eighth grade students were in the bleachers as spectators during the Turkey Bowl. They couldn't participate in the football game, but they did take part in the trivia and in the five "Minute To Win It" games, said Worrall, who wants to get bigger prizes for next year.