News Photo by Owen Kinzey Members of the Alpena High School junior and senior classes pose at the conclusion of a powder puff football game on Sunday at Park Family Field at Wildcat Stadium.

ALPENA — Homecoming week at Alpena High School kicked off Sunday with the second annual Powder Puff football game.

Led by quarterback Olivia Precord, running back Emma Dickins, and wide receivers Reese Wisniewski and Eden Gray, the senior Class of 2024 took home the victory.

The seniors defeated the juniors by a final score of 16-8 despite an incredibly tough effort from the junior class.

“The Class of 2024 is now undefeated and 2-0 in powderpuff games, and we played super well tonight. I’m incredibly proud of all the girls tonight, and it seems that all the practice paid off,” Senior coach Jonny Rensberry said.

Although the final score was not in favor of the juniors, a tremendous first drive led by Natalie Maychen propelled them to the early momentum.

On the game’s very first play, Maychen took an outside run play 35 yards all the way down into the senior’s side of the field. This exciting play seemed all for nothing as the next four plays were not converted for a first down, and the juniors turned the ball over on downs.

The senior’s first drive was similar to the juniors, as after the first few plays, Precord threw an interception to Melody Kauffman, resulting in a turnover.

Now that the juniors had the ball, the seniors needed a defensive stop.

A sack from Emilee Modrzejewski led to an interception made by Wisniewski after a bad throw from Kiera Prue.

The seniors’ next drive lasted until the end of the half when, with seven seconds remaining, Precord threw up a 50-yard touchdown to Gray as she outran the entire secondary.

The score was followed by a two-point conversion converted on a handoff to Wisniewski.

Going into the half, the senior class was up 8-0.

Coming out of the break, the juniors needed a turnover to have a chance. Not only did a turnover happen, but Faith Dragiewicz picked off Precord and took the ball 59 yards for a pick-six.

The juniors then went for its two-point conversion, which was completed after Maychen juked out the defense for the score.

Both sides wanted to break the tie with the game knotted up at 8-8.

A 21-yard pass, followed by two straight double-digit yard rushes from Wisniewski, set the seniors in prime position to score again.

Another pass was converted to Gray, this time for 30 yards, as she got down to the one-yard line before the flag was pulled.

Wisniewski finished the play for a touchdown and then converted the two-point try to put the seniors up 16-8.

The seniors retained possession of the football with almost no time left, but a blocked punt with 18 seconds left provided a scare for the seniors.

With 18 seconds to score a touchdown and convert the two-point attempt, the juniors were unsuccessful, taking the 16-8 loss.

“We had some miscommunication on our snaps, and a couple of bad plays really hurt us. I wish we would’ve spent more time practicing, but I think we know what needs to be done to take the win next year,” Junior coach Cole Herman said.