FLAG FOOTBALL: Catholic tops ACA, Trinity; Trinity defeats ACA in tri-match
Catholic’s Hayden Fitts intercepts a pass in the Lady Knights win over Trinity. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Catholic coach Whitney Toole had to navigate her team through six games in two weeks without the Knights’ starting quarterback as Hayden Fitts suffered a concussion after colliding with a teammate on a defensive play at LAMP.
“We’re just trying to play it smartly,” Toole said. “We’re trying to ease her back into it. We know we have to have her on offense. She’s great on defense but we’ve had some younger ones step up that can give her breaks because you don’t want your quarterback to play the whole game. It’s been nice to see people step up to help her out with that.”
And, yes, Fitts did have her moments on offense as Catholic defeated Trinity 40-6 in a flag football game on Tuesday. But after contributing a game-high 10 tackles on defense and returning two interceptions for touchdowns, Fitts said she enjoyed her day on defense a lot more.
“It’s more fun running with the ball,” she said, “because most of the time I’m throwing the ball rather than running it.”
Catholic hosted Capital City Conference rivals Alabama Christian and Trinity in a tri-match on Tuesday, beating both first-year programs handily. But after getting out to a fast start in the win over ACA, the Knights rested as Trinity and ACA played each other and weren’t quite ready for the inspired play of the Wildcats in the first half.
“We just had to find the intensity,” Toole said. “It doesn’t do us good to sit in between (games). We started off super slow and they realized that if they want to win the game, they’re going to have to step it up and find the intensity.”
It was Fitts who broke a scoreless tie midway through the first quarter, snatching an Emory Causey pass out of the air and returning the interception 13 yards to the end zone for a 7-0 lead. Trinity then marched to the Catholic 2-yard line before turning it over on downs and the Knights traveled 78 yards in eight plays for a 14-0 lead as Fitts connected with Frances Rogers for a 38-yard touchdown play after Rogers ran through a pair of defenders that failed to pull her flag.
Causey hit Marley Sharpless with a 6-yard pass with six seconds left to trim the deficit to 14-6 at the half.
It was a different Catholic squad in the second half as the Knights scored on each of their three possessions before officials halted the game, adding another score on a 16-yard interception return for a touchdown by Fitts.
“We just wanted to get the game over with,” Fitts explained. “We figured out what they couldn’t handle, so we went with what would work.”
Catholic marched 65 yards in the air with the first possession of the second half before Avery Sadler scored on a 1-yard run for the Knights’ only rush of the game. After a three and out by Trinity, the Knights were on the move again, scoring on a 14-yard Fitts’ pass to Ellis O’Connor. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Fitts threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Haley Ishman for a 40-6 lead, ending the game.
“We wore down, but they made great adjustments,” Trinity coach Clinton Adams said. “They started delaying the rush a little bit, which got the quarterback off her reads, which was a great adjustment. I still think we had some things open but fatigue (set in). We’ve never played two games in one day.”
Adams didn’t want to detract from the play of the Knights, noting they played the second half “like a defending state champ is supposed to. They probably thought this team may not be as good, then when they got back out there (for the second half), they were like, let’s strap it on and get this thing over with. They had a different energy in the second half.”
Still, Trinity’s performance in the first half should be encouraging as the first-year program held its own against the defending 1A-5A state champions.
“I think we’re going in the right direction,” Adams said. “There are still some things we’ve got to get better at. But when you can compete, see what you’re trying to do and stop them and move the ball a little bit, we’re heading in the right direction. Those (Catholic) girls have been doing this and they know how to do it. That’s why they’re the champs. That’s the model. We’ve got to get to their level.”
Trinity 26, ACA 6
The two first-year programs fought evenly through the first half, but Trinity proved too much for Alabama Christian in the second half, pulling away to a 26-6 win over the Eagles at Catholic on Tuesday afternoon.
The meeting was the first-ever for the two Capital City Conference rivals in flag football, part of a three-game meeting at Catholic. Alabama Christian had some early success against the Wildcats, but Trinity scored on its first three possessions of the second half for the win.
The confidence of seniors Marley Sharpless and Emma Rose Meldrum proved to be the difference in the game as Sharpless turned a pair of short plays into long runs after ACA defenders failed to pull her flag and Meldrum snatched a pass away from an ACA defender at the goal line for another score.
“It comes with the territory,” ACA coach Josh Roberts said. “It’s new. We’ve got to put it together and do the little things right, the simple things -- pull flags, catch the ball. We’ve just got to do the little things right, do what we’re coached to do and keep ourselves in the ballgame. We work at it in practice, then get in the game and freeze up a little bit. But it’s a new learning curve for everybody.”
Trinity’s initial possession almost reached the red zone before turning the ball over on downs and ACA did make it as deep as the Trinity 13-yard line before Anna Gleason’s pass was intercepted by Rebi McLemore at the 2-yard line.
Then came the first big break of the game as Sharpless caught a pass from Emory Causey as two ACA defenders reaching for the flag bumped into each other, leaving Sharpless alone for a 60-yard sprint to the end zone. Causey’s conversion run made it 7-0.
Back came the Eagles, driving 66 yards in 13 plays, converting a fourth down to keep the drive alive, then scoring on a fourth-down pass from Gleason to Peri Laine Holley for the final yard. The conversion failed, leaving Trinity clinging to a 7-6 lead midway through the second quarter.
The game turned quickly in the second half as Trinity marched 66 yards in seven plays, with Causey throwing 26 yards to Sharpless, then throwing to Sharpless for the conversion and a 14-6 lead. The Eagles were never the same on either side of the ball after the Wildcat score.
“Then we get (the big plays by opponents) in our heads and we shut down a little bit,” Roberts said. “Every team you play is going to make plays. You’ve just got to continue to battle. The light at the end of the tunnel is you see flashes of the play we want, we’ve just got to continue to do it and the consistency that comes with it.”
Trinity’s next possession ended when Meldrum snatched the ball away from an ACA defender at the goal line on a fourth-and-18 pass from Causey. On the next possession, Sharpless pulled in a fourth-and-four pass at the first-down marker, continued running as two defenders failed to pull her flag and went 44 yards to the end zone.
“I think for our team, it’s about getting comfortable,” Trinity coach Clinton Adams said. “Every game it’s something new. So the quarterback’s trying to figure out have I seen this defense before. I don’t know anything about these teams so we just come out here and it takes a while to get used to some things and then they get comfortable. When they see it enough, they feel like they can handle it.”
Holley led the Eagles on offense with 83 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries and on defense eight tackles.
Causey completed 27 of 37 passes for 351 yards and four touchdowns, with Sharpless catching 12 passes for 209 yards and three touchdowns and Meldrum catching 10 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, Emory Scott Harris had eight tackles and a pass breakup and McLemore had seven tackles and an interception.
Trinity (4-2) will face Auburn’s junior varsity game next Tuesday.
Catholic 35, ACA 0
Catholic scored on its first three possessions and added another touchdown on an interception return for an easy 35-0 win over Alabama Christian Academy on Tuesday in the first-ever meeting between the two Capital City Conference rivals in flag football.
Alabama Christian and Trinity added flag football programs this season, joining defending 1A-5A state champion Catholic as the three Capital City Conference teams participating in the sport. On Tuesday, the three came together for a tri-match at Catholic.
“The first thing is it’s good for flag football in general,” Catholic coach Whitney Toole said. “It’s great to have all three of us here, especially the two that have never had teams before. We’re all such close CCC teams, to have everybody out here just to have fun at flag football, it’s huge for the sport and it’s also huge because it has given us other people in town to play. We don’t have to travel. It’s cool to see them have teams.”
And much like Catholic looked four years ago in its debut, there were growing pains by both ACA and Trinity against the more experienced Knights.
“I think they have a lot to work with,” Toole said. “That’s how we were to start with, learning the rules and all that, but I think they have a lot of potential.”
Catholic’s first possession covered 66 yards in seven plays, with Hayden Fitts throwing 8 yards to Avery Sadler, then running in the conversion for a 7-0 lead. ACA had some success moving the ball early, picking up a pair of first downs on its initial possession before quarterback Anna Gleason threw to the right side of the field for a receiver and found Addi Little instead, who returned the interception 45 yards to the end zone for another Catholic touchdown.
Three plays later, Gleason was intercepted by Haley Ishman, who scored on a 14-yard reception from Fitts, then on a two-point conversion pass from Fitts for a 22-0 lead with 1:13 left in the third quarter.
Another ACA interception turned into another quick strike for the Knights as Ishman threw a 22-yard pass to Ellis O’Connor that was stopped a yard short of the goal, followed by Fitts’ pass to Sadler for a 28-0 lead with 6:39 left in the first half.
“We’ve been practicing hard and watching film,” Fitts said of the fast start. “We just came out ready to play.”
The game was called at the end of the third quarter but not before Ishman scored on a 14-yard reception. She finished with 49 yards and two touchdowns on four catches. Sadler added two touchdowns and 51 yards on five receptions and O’Connor had 44 yards on four catches.
Fitts completed 8 of 10 passes for 80 yards and four touchdowns. Defensively, Sadler had five tackles and Collins Hickman had a pair of interceptions.
Nora Burgess led ACA with 17 yards on three receptions, while Maddie Owens led the defense with five tackles and a pass breakup.
The Eagles are still looking for their first win and coach Josh Roberts said his team needs to minimize its mistakes.
“You know you’re a new program, but the expectation is to go in and compete in games and we’ve done that for the most part, we’ve just got to finish games,” Roberts said. “We keep ourselves in games, then give up three or four big plays. We don’t capitalize and we have little mistakes that hurt us. I expect the standard that I want for the girls to be the standard and we’ve got to continue to build it to set the precident for the younger kids coming up.”
ACA (0-6) will play host to Brew Tech on Monday for Senior Night. Catholic improved to 10-4 with the win.