Aggressive Welsh Family defensive proved to be too much for the Off-Campus team during Thursday night's game.
After defeating Pangborn 19-0 last Sunday, the Whirlwinds collected their second consecutive shutout this season by defeating the Off-Campus squad 20-0.
"It is important for the defense to be strong," Welsh Family captain Mary Pendergast said. "It really sets the mood for the offense."
Despite struggling for completions early in the first half, the Whirlwind offense managed to establish the tone of the game towards halftime.
With five minutes left in the half, Welsh Family scored its first touchdown off an option from quarterback Melissa Sands to Lauren Hoeck. Hoeck ran for the 15 yards into the end zone to give the Whirlwinds the 6-0 advantage.
However, it did not take long for the Whirlwinds to score again after Sands threw a 10-yard and connected with Lauren Pease two minutes later. Welsh Family collected the extra point to give itself a 13-0 lead going into halftime.
Despite the comfortable lead, the Whirlwinds were aware of the talent the Off-Campus team possessed.
"These were the best players from other teams last year," Pendergast said. "We were told that they were going to think of us as their little sisters and try to take the win."
Unfortunately for the Off-Campus team, this perception never precipitated into a reality and continued to struggle throughout the second half. The Off-Campus squad failed to get a first down the entire match.
"It did not go our way," Off-Campus captain Lauren Blum said. "We didn't even win the coin toss and that is when we knew things weren't going to go well."
As the second half progressed, the Off-Campus defense could not stop Hoeck from reaching the end zone for her second touchdown of the game. Welsh Family collected the extra point to make the final score 20-0.
Despite its success against the Off-Campus team, Welsh Family is still focused upon perfecting its game.
"We were consistent but we are trying to get sharp," Sands said. "There's always stuff to work on."
The Off-Campus team is also taking a similar approach to looking where tonight can help improve its game on both sides of the ball.
"We looked at this as another practice and our defense did well by keeping us within 19 points," Blum said. "Even though we are not going to practice until the next game, we are going to focus on getting our first first down of the season."
Lyons 6, Pangborn 6
"It's like kissing your sister," Pangborn co-head coach Rob Coly said of the 6-6 tie between his Phoxes and the Lions of Lyons.
Lyons captain and quarterback Traci Kazmerski disagreed.
"No, it's like kissing your brother."
After the hour-long defensive battle, the two Lyons coaches and three Phoxes coaches, who live in the same hallway in Keenan, agreed on one thing.
"We should have won," they all said.
Early in the game, the Lyons seemed to be in control, opening the game with a 2-yard touchdown pass from Kazmerski to wide receiver Meghan Regan. On that play, the Lyons capitalized on a pass-interference penalty two plays earlier, on fourth-and-goal from the 12, which kept the 65-yard drive alive.
Kazmerski registered a staggering 59 yards of offense on the drive, but the Pangborn defense would not allow another sustained drive for the remainder of the game.
With 10 minutes left in the second half, Pangborn quarterback Katie Mooney hit Mary Davis for the equalizer, a 9-yard touchdown pass. The play capped off a long drive that was highlighted by a terrific 15-yard option pitch from Mooney to running back Trish Conneely.
The Lyons defense thwarted the only scoring chance for the remainder of the game, forcing a Pangborn punt on a fourth-and-goal from the 30 with less than two minutes remaining in the game.
The Lyons tried a hurry-up offense, but failed to gain any yardage on three plays and had to punt the ball away with 30 seconds left.
A 50-yard boot ensured the tie, leaving the Phoxes in terrible field position with only 15 seconds left in the game.
The Phoxes tried to go for it all, but a 15-yard pass play was all they could muster.
Although most of the feeling after the game was that of dissatisfaction, Pangborn captain Katie Murray took a positive out of the game.
"Hopefully we can use the momentum and offensive production we established in the second half and bring it into Sunday's game against Badin," she said.
Badin 12, Howard 0
The Badin Bullfrogs put in some new plays this week in practice to try and get their offense clicking on all cylinders.
After Thursday night's 12-0 win over Howard, the offense probably realized it only needs one play.
Co-captain and senior quarterback Stephanie Heath found senior wide receiver Erin Diminick early and often, en route to completing 12-of-20 passes for 180 yards and a touchdown. Diminick pulled down 7 of those passes for 125 yards, including a 10-yard catch for the game's first score.
"Running is a little hard to do in this league," Heath said. "Passing the football was the game plan going in."
Diminick credited Heath for all the catches.
"Steph let me use my speed," Diminick said. "She places the ball really well."
The Badin offense was not the only one causing problems for the Ducks, as the defense held them scoreless to record its second shutout of the season. The Bullfrogs held the Duck offense to 110 yards of total offense, with much of that coming late in the second half.
"The defense was key," co-captain and cornerback Rita Morgan said. "They played really great again. We played well, but we are going to take it one game at a time."
The Ducks, however, came back in the second half and made it interesting. After stopping Badin on its first possession of the second half, Howard moved the ball well for the first time all night. Although it did not score, the team was rejuvenated after the drive and immediately started playing better on both sides of the ball.
The game was essentially won late in the second half when Badin picked off Howard and started another offensive series.
Howard remained focused nonetheless, intercepting the ball and regaining possession a few plays later, but it was too little too late.
Despite the loss, Howard still remains upbeat and confident.
"We made a lot of mistakes last week but we came a long way in practice ... we were happy with our performance tonight," captain Callie Whelan said. "Lewis better make sure they bring it this Sunday."
Howard will take on Lewis Sunday on the West Quad Fields at 5 p.m. Badin will look to improve to 3-0 when it faces the Phoxes at 6 p.m., also on West Quad.
