FLAG FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS: Catholic begins of title defense with win; Brew Tech, Tallassee advance
Catholic’s Hayden Fitts returns a punt during the Knights’ win over Loachapoka on Tuesday. (Tim Gayle)
COMBINED REPORTS
The flag football state playoffs require a different mindset, Catholic junior defensive back-receiver Haley Ishman believes.
“We’re a team people want to beat, especially us going to state (finals) two years in a row,” Ishman said. “Just to have that on our back, that pushes us a lot.”
The defending 1A-5A state champions opened the playoffs with a resounding victory, pounding overmatched Loachapoka 40-0 at Catholic on Tuesday.
“We’ve had that talk all week, that we have to show up and play our best game every game,” Catholic coach Whitney Toole said. “We want to play like it’s for a state championship, no matter what round it is -- 100 percent effort, intensity, getting after it. And we worked on that in practice, that no matter who we’re playing, giving them our best game.”
The Knights (18-4) won their 13th consecutive game by turning up the defensive intensity, holding the Indians to minus 4 total yards after the first quarter. Catholic will travel to Mobile to play LeFlore in the second round of the 1A-5A playoffs next week.
After Loachpoka’s opening possession ended with a punt, Catholic drove 40 yards in four plays, using a 28-yard pass from Hayden Fitts to Ishman to set up Fitts’ 2-yard run two plays later for a 6-0 lead.
The Indians then went on their only drive of the game, marching downfield to the Catholic 18-yard line by alternating Lauren Smith and Makayla Roberts at quarterback, causing Toole to call a timeout to get her players’ attention.
“We just got into our heads a little bit because one or two plays didn’t work,” Toole said. “We didn’t do exactly what we were supposed to do. (The talk was) just to kind of get the nerves back down and for everybody to remain calm.”
After the timeout, Loachpoka’s final 18 plays of the game gained just 5 yards.
Ishman had touchdown receptions on the next two possessions as Catholic took control of the game, storming out to a 27-0 halftime lead. Avery Sadler also had two touchdown receptions, including one on a deflected pass batted away from Frances Rogers, and another by Ellis O’Connor.
But it was Ishman who got the offense rolling, catching five passes for 84 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The yardage pushed her over the 1,200-yard mark this season and the touchdowns were her 23rd and 24th of the season.
“She’s worked hard and been focused all week,” Toole said. “She’s always been a constant for us and we expect nothing less than for her to show up in big games. That’s what she has always done.”
Fitts completed 12 of 19 passes for 148 yards and four touchdowns, rushed for 60 yards and a touchdown on six carries and had five tackles on defense. Every time she needed a big play in the passing game, she threw the ball to Ishman.
“That’s my buddy,” Ishman said. “We’ve been playing since the beginning and she’s been my quarterback since last year. And our chemistry just grew and grew ever since. We had a good bond from softball. On the field, we just have a good connection. She trusts me when she throws it and I trust her to throw it to me. Having trust in each other helps a lot on the field.”
And after a few unsteady moments in the first quarter, the Knights shifted gears and pulled away to their ninth shutout of the season, remaining unbeaten against 1A-5A competition.
“We knew that we couldn’t just come out here and just think we’re going to go swipe through this team,” Ishman said. “We’ve got to also have the want-to. But we can’t just come out here and think we’re going to win. We play a bad game, they can come out here and beat us.”
Brew Tech 40, Elberta 6
Tessa Wilburn threw five touchdown passes to lead the Lady Rams to an easy win over Elberta in the Class 1A-5A first round on Tuesday at Cramton Bowl.
Kaymarria Bandy caught two of the passes, one from 20 yards out and the other from 40 yards. Helena Pennic also had two scores on a 17-yard pass and later a 26-yard strike.
Apollonia Wesley’s caught the final touchdown pass on the first play of the second half, a 66-yard catch and run.
Brew Tech’s final touchdown came on an interception and score from Reese Woody in the third quarter.
Elberta’s lone score came in the first quarter on a 44-yard pass from Haley Burnett to Aubree Miller.
Brew Tech (12-3) travels to Valley for the second round next week.
Tallassee 34, Francis Marion 0
The Tigers continued their perfect season with a first-round victory improving to 11-0 while extending their shutout streak to four games.
Tallassee’s only points in the first half came on a Marlee Osborne interception which she returned 37 yards for a score in the first quarter.
The Tigers got four more picks including three by Cheyann Easterling and another by Jayla Anderson.
Easterling tossed two touchdown passes to Reese Gough and Lila Kate Fulgham. She ran for another score. Jordyn Morris also threw a TD pass to Rodericka Green that ended the game by mercy rule with a couple of minutes still remaining on the clock.
Easterling was 7 of 18 for 90 passing yards. She led all rushers with 30 yards on six carries.
Francis Marion had just 98 yards of offense.
During the scoreless streak by the Tigers’ defense, all four opponents have been held to under 100 yards. Tallassee has outscored their opponents 125-0 over that stretch.
Tallassee will play the winner of Charles Henderson and Satsuma next week. If Satsuma wins, the game will be in Tallassee. If Charles Henderson wins, the Tigers will travel to Troy.