Demopolis High School’s annual powderpuff football game is taking a little bit of a twist this year.

In the sixth year of the game, there will be a four-team tournament for the championship trophy.

On Thursday, Oct. 4, the freshman team will face off against the sophomore team and the juniors will play against the seniors. On Thursday, Oct. 18, the winners of the two games will play in a final championship game.

For both nights, there will be a pep rally at 6 p.m. at the gym, and the games will start around 6:45 p.m.

Jay Russell, the organizer of the event, said that there has been a good turnout in the first week of practice so far.

“There have been about 15 girls come out for each team,” he said.

The rules for the game are a little bit different from regular football. First, and most noticeably, the games will be 7-on-7 flag football games. There will also be a 10-second pass clock, which allows the quarterback to take 10 seconds before anyone on defense is allowed to rush her unless she crosses the line of scrimmage.

Also returning this year will be the football player cheerleaders. Russell said there were 20 boys who signed up to be a cheerleader for the game, 12 of whom showed up for the first practice on Tuesday.

The coaches for each of the teams are as follows:

•Freshmen – Kelee Williams

•Sophomores – Barbara Wallace

•Juniors – Kim Browder

•Seniors – Jill Tutt

In past years, the game has been played during school hours, but this year, participants wanted it to be moved to an evening event so that their parents could come out and watch.

“We moved the game to a night game this year,” Russell said, “and we are going to use the stadium and everything to make it as much like a real football game as possible.”

All proceeds from the game, including concessions, will go to the Demopolis City Schools Foundation.