On Friday, Sept. 22, GDS held its annual flag football tournament. Non-male students of each grade faced each other in competitive games of flag football, coached by other students in their grade.
The championship game between the seniors and juniors went into overtime, but the juniors eventually won. The game went into overtime because it was tied 14–14 at the end of regulation time after a deep touchdown catch by junior Grace Zia.
Once the game went into overtime, Director of Student Community Programming Bobby Asher and Athletic Director David Gillespie decided that each team would get one possession, and if either team scored, they would win. If neither scored, whichever team got closer to the end zone would win. Even though neither team scored a touchdown, the juniors were closest to the end zone by the end of overtime and Asher and Gillespie declared them the winners.
The flag football competition consists of two semifinal games, a final game and a game to determine third place. In the semifinal games, the freshmen played the juniors, and the sophomores played the seniors. Every game consists of two 10-minute halves and can include overtime if the score is tied at the end of the 20 minutes of playing time.
Going into the games, students interviewed by the Bit from each grade expressed confidence in their grades’ chances of winning. “I think the freshmen are going to win, or the seniors,” freshman Brooke Hughes said before the games.
The juniors ended up beating the freshmen by a score of 14–7 in one of the semifinal games. Though the game was tied at seven at halftime, the juniors scored the winning seven points in the last few minutes of the game.
The seniors won their semifinal game against the sophomores by a score of 14–0. At halftime, the seniors led 7–0. In the game to determine third place, the sophomores beat the freshmen by a score of 7–0. The game was close the entire time and was tied at halftime with no score.
Senior Julian Montes-Sharp did not accept the results of the championship game. “I am calling it a tie,” he said. “I think the juniors are happy that they won, but I say we tied.”
Junior Shiraz Benyoucef, who played quarterback, said she enjoyed the flag football competition. “It makes everyone really hype with team bonding,” she said. Benyoucef added that she wanted more school-wide games.
GDS also has a volleyball tournament where grades compete against each other, with non-female students playing. Assistant Principal for School Life Quinn Killy said that he and his colleagues have discussed holding a school-wide pickleball competition.