Winners of the sixth annual Punt, Pass and Kick championships were crowned recently at White Sulphur Springs Elementary School during the first nine weeks awards assembly.
One hundred and thirty-six students in grades three through five competed during PE classes for school championships in boys and girls grade and overall categories. Students were allowed three tries each in punting, passing and kicking a football for distance and accuracy, with the highest total of all three winning the Grand Champion prize. Winners of the individual events were the longest and most accurate in each grade and sex category.
“The two week contest followed a teaching unit on football,” said WSSES PE teacher Tracy Asbury. “As you would expect, younger children do not know much about the game of football, but what amazed me most were the number of students that didn’t even know which end of the ball to hold onto when throwing a football,” he said. “This was our sixth year for the contest and there were a total of seven school records set, the most of any year since the contest began. Also, for the first time ever, one student won all four categories in the contest Isabell Vaughan,” he said.
The PE classes are now involved in seven-on-seven flag football games where each student is assigned a pass pattern to run. “Playing the games at the end of the unit really helped me evaluate how well the students grasped the instruction,” Asbury said. “By the end of football season, students who had never watched or even seen a football game on TV or in person were coming to school giving me scores from a game they had watched with their uncles and dads, or for the first time, attended a Spartan or Falcon game. I believe that most students are stigmatized by the perceived violence of football. Once we broke the game down into small chunks of information for them, they understood the finer points of football, not just the collisions.”
Asbury concluded by saying, “We had some very competitive games in class, fun to watch. And to top it all off, our Varsity Falcons have won the Super Bowl three of the past five years, and our JV made the playoffs in their category. The pride our school has for our football Falcons is more sincere now that the students understand the rules and strategies of the game. Look for the WSS Falcons to play for championships each year in football. It’s no accident that they are succeeding.”
WSSES would like to dedicate this year’s Punt Pass and Kick contest to long time guidance counselor at WSSES and board member at New River Community College Marilyn Leftwich for his lifelong commitment to youth in White Sulphur Springs and Greenbrier County.
2016 WSSE Punt Pass & Kick – Boys
Third Grade
Grand Champion: Owen Romero TOTAL – 169’7”
Punt Champion: Owen Romero 61’10”**
Pass Champion: Kaedin McNeely 58’
Kick Champion: Lion Ward 69’4”
Fourth Grade
Grand Champion: Henry Martinez TOTAL – 195’11”
Punt Champion: Henry Martinez 66’7”
Pass Champion: Lacy Sturgell 71’8”
Kick Champion: Charlie Warlitner 76’5”
Fifth Grade
Grand Champion: Isaiah Mattox 219’6”**
**New School Record for total**
Punt Champion: Josiah Moore 69’
Pass Champion: Hayden Evans 75’6”
Kick Champion: Isaiah Mattox 85’10”
**denotes new school record**
2016 WSSE Punt Pass & Kick – Girls
Third Grade
Grand Champion: Taylor Dowdy TOTAL – 100’3”
Punt Champion: Emma Kincaid 30’
Pass Champion: Taylor Dowdy 45’**
Kick Champion: Emma Kincaid 35’
Fourth Grade
Grand Champion: Alizabeth Wooding TOTAL – 161’3”
**New School Record for total**
Punt Champion: Layla Hoke 50’
Pass Champion: Alizabeth Wooding 75’6”**
Kick Champion: Delaney Starrett 58’4”**
Fifth Grade
Grand Champion: Isabell Vaughan TOTAL – 170’2”
**New school record for total**
Punt Champion: Isabell Vaughan 58’3”
Pass Champion: Isabell Vaughan 49’8”
Kick Champion: Isabell Vaughan 62’3”
**Denotes new school record**
