On Wednesday, Oct. 31, seven teams headed out to Cougar Stadium for a friendly game of Bubble Ball. The rules were the same as soccer but instead of wearing shin guards, players slid into giant bubbles.

    “The bubble was really tight and it was hard to breathe,” Harper Crater, senior, said.

     Players thought the bubble would protect them, but senior Payton Fiel said the hard hits delivered by the coaches really hurt.

    “It was really hard to see inside the bubble,” Fiel said. “It didn’t hurt when you fell on your own, but when the big boys bodied me, it hurt a lot.”  

    Each team played two games. Teams that won the second game got to play a third.

    The team made up of physical education coaches Phil Roper, Ty Thorpe, Charlie Porterfield, Paul Frye and Business teacher Mark Frazier were knocked out in their second game.   

    “The faculty team literally gave up halfway through their second game,” Sharon Krasny, NHS adviser, said. “They walked off the field leaving their bubble balls to blow down the field. As a result, they sacrificed their chance at the championship.”

    During their short time on the field, faculty members created many memorable moments.

    “Watching all the participants get trucked by Coach Porterfield and scoring a goal while playing goalie,” Thorpe said were his favorite moments.

    “One of the funniest moments was when Mark Southard called out Coach Roper for sitting on the ball of French exchange student Luis,” Krasny said. “The exchange student couldn’t wear his glasses inside the ball and as a result, he couldn’t see. He was trying to swat Roper off of him so he could get up. Roper wasn’t moving.”

    The team made up of seniors Jacob Rader, Hunter Anderson, Chase Dickens, Jack Riley, and Noah Stallard rolled over the senior team of Crater, Fiel, Carly Herbert, Gwyn Newcomb, and Anna Cottrell.

    “They were so much bigger than us,” Crater said. “So we didn’t really even stand a chance, but it was really fun.

    Rader’s team ended up winning the entire event.

    “We won because we were the best team overall and we were the most athletic,” Rader said. “The funniest part though, was Mark announcing the games.”

    National Honor Society members organized the event as a fundraiser for Owen Deavers. Owen was diagnosed with craniopharyngioma earlier this year. The Deavers family has spent the past few months traveling back and forth to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. The NHS was able to raise $500 for the family through ticket sales. Players paid $5 and spectators paid $2.

    Sophomore Bailey Moriarity said it was definitely worth $2 to watch the game.

    “I had a lot of fun watching this,” Moriarity said. “It was really funny when they fell.”

    Krasny said the event was so successful that there is talk of doing it again in the spring.