Footballs flew and ladles filled dozens of soup bowls Feb. 1 as Kids Street children’s ministry turned Awana night into “Souper Bowl” Sunday.

Bridget Hutchins, who volunteers with a third-grade Truth & Training club, wore a Seattle Seahawks jersey — standing out amid several Carolina Panthers and Washington Redskins jerseys.

“His whole room is the Seahawks,” Hutchins said of her son, Caleb. The family saw the Seahawks beat the Panthers in October.

The favorite before Super Bowl XLIX pitting the Seahawks against the New England Patriots was clear: the Seahawks.

Said Sparks club member Ryne Johnson, “The (Patriots) deflate the balls.” Ethan DeWald was even more direct. “The Patriots cheated because they took the air out of the balls,” he said.

There wasn’t anything missing at Triad on Souper Bowl Sunday evening. Soup QBs Kim Gerber and Tammy Thompson kept using their ladles to call up more soup from the stove into Styrofoam bowls arranged on trays.

Charles McPeak, Angie Cook and other volunteers took the handoff and made fumble-free deliveries to the classes. There, it was first things first (reading Bible verses they’d memorized), before clubbers scored with soup and crackers.

Austin Needham, assistant director for children’s ministries, continued the football theme in the Activity Center with a “quarterback and receiver” relay game featuring Nerf footballs that teams tossed into laundry baskets.

Awana clubbers capped off the activity by donating two large tubs and a box filled with soup for the Winston-Salem Rescue Mission — one of the local ministries Triad supports as part of its missions budget.

“It was a great night and opportunity to take a big signature event like the Super Bowl and make it our own with special games, music, and faith lessons,” Needham said.

Added Tim Gerber, executive pastor for children and ministries, “We’ve been doing this for at least six years. The Souper Bowl Sunday tie-in seemed a natural since we try to have a theme for each night of Awana, and there’s so much focus on the game.”