POWER OF PINK: P-CEP Powderpuff game raises $$ for great cause

As the pink-shirted Senior team’s offensive unit huddled up to launch the 2025 Plymouth-Canton Educational Park Powderpuff football game Friday night, running back Ava Murphy shared a premonition with a teammate.

“I joked to our quarterback, Riley, ‘What if I scored on the first play?’,” recalled Murphy, a multi-sport student athlete for Canton.

Seconds later, Murphy took a hand-off, cut to her left and sprinted 80 yards for a TD that set the tone for the entertaining game that meshes students from all three Park schools for a fun-raiser/fund-raiser.

Murphy’s run was the catalyst for the Seniors’ resounding 38-6 victory — an offensive festival compared to last year’s 8-6 defensive struggle also won by the seniors.

(To check out video highlights from Friday’s game, click here.)

Great game, great cause

All proceeds generated from the game — last year the total was just short of $5,000 — will be donated to the Sunshine Football Clinic, an non-profit organization that annually holds a summer football camp for people who live with special needs.

Canton seniors Murphy, and twins Payton and Riley Langenderfer, served as student organizers this year along with faculty members Erin Le and Rich Mui.

Mui, a Canton High School educator, and Derek Hoffman, a Plymouth High School counselor, served as the game’s head coaches (Mui mentored the juniors while Hoffman was the head strategist for the seniors).

“Along with raising money for a great cause, this game gives the girls an opportunity to show their skills in football — a sport some are playing for the first time,” said Le, a National Honor Society advisor. “After being played off-campus for years, the game was brought back to the Park in 2017, I believe, after it was approved by the district.

“The talent these girls display is amazing. A lot of them are athletes in other sports, and it shows.”

Le praised the volunteers who help make the game a success each spring: Mui and Hoffman, student assistant coaches and the volunteers who operated the concession stand.

Funds are raised by a $25 donation required for each player and the $5 admission fee for fans, of which there were many.

Murphy and the Langenderfer twins said they spent roughly 20 hours organizing the game.

“It’s a lot of fun and it’s for a good cause,” Riley Langenderfer said. “And it’s all worth it especially when you see how many people turn out to watch.”

Participating in the game was especially meaningful for Plymouth senior Shea Douglas, an elite soccer player committed to play for Grand Valley State University beginning in the fall.

Douglas chose not to play high school soccer so she could play for her Michigan Hawks club team.

“Just to be able to experience the school spirit this game brings was s special,” said Douglas, who scored two of the seniors’ six touchdowns.

Hoffman admitted he expected a closer outcome.

“The Juniors have some very talented athletes, so I was expecting a one-score barn-burner,” Hoffman said.

“I have to give credit to our assistant coaches who made some critical in-game adjustments.”

Hoffman said he was happy all 54 players on the Senior roster got game action.

Eighty-five student-athletes registered to play, Le said.

Addie Lockhart was among the MVP candidates for the Senior team as she scored two TDs.

Evelyn Stiglish scored the lone TD for the Juniors with a 75-yard pick-six.

Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.