Prep football’s ‘Big Man Challenge’ a competition mixed with comradery

Windham varsity football player Fisher Allen,
a junior, flips a tire as fast as he can up the field
during Windham's Big Man Challenge
on Monday, Nov. 2 at Windham,
PHOTO BT MATT PASCARELLA

By Matt Pascarella

It was cold and windy on Monday, Nov. 2 but the chilly weather didn’t seem to affect Windham’s varsity and junior varsity football teams, it only seemed to energize them. Windham competed against Lewiston, at Windham, in the Big Man Challenge meet, a competition with training exercises to work on skill and to get better on the football field.

The Big Man Challenge was broken into several events: a tire flip, a tire toss, an iron sled pull, an ultimate relay, a tug-o-war and a pro shuttle which is a back and forth 10-yard run. Despite that fact these two teams were competing, I saw encouragement from both teams geared toward their competitor. It seemed to be just as much about team building as who wins or loses.

Freshman Nathanial Allen said, “It was a pretty funny experience, we had a fun time, we don’t really get to do this often. It’s pretty fun to have other teams come in and just have some fun and competition.”

The varsity players beat Lewiston with a combined score of 41-29 for all events.

The junior varsity lost to Lewiston with a combined score of 35-16 for all events.

In the tug-o-war, in which both Windham JV and varsity teamed up, Windham clinched a 10-5 win over
the Blue Devils. In the ultimate relay, Windham defeated Lewiston 10-5.

After combining the scores from all events Windham beat Lewiston 77-74.

“(I’m) hoping these guys get a chance to compete against each other and have fun, that’s the biggest hope,” said coach Matt Perkins. (Windham) did great, they competed and had fun. I thought they did a great job and excited to be out here, encourage each other so it was good to see.”<