They started the season at the top, and the Chaos finished the regular season at the top.
With Tuesday night's 18-6 victory over Pasquerilla East, Cavanaugh ended the regular season with an undefeated 5-0-1 record.
"This was a game we felt we had to win," Cavanaugh junior quarterback Lisa Ruffer said. "We came into the season first in the league and wanted to make sure that we would finish in first."
Ruffer was the star of the game, leading the Chaos offense perfectly, completing pass after pass. With over 250 yards through the air, Ruffer shredded the soft Pyro defense.
Cavanaugh junior wide receivers Nancy Powaga and Janice Flynn and senior Jenny Nokes all made significant contributions to the Chaos' air attack, as each was on the receiving end of a touchdown pass.
"They are all really good wide receivers who can adjust to my passes well and get open," Ruffer said.
The Pyros had no such luck through the air, as the unorthodox Pyro offense relied on a number of trick plays to try to catch the Cavanaugh defense off-guard. Using a number of wide receiver passes and reverses, the Pyros looked for any holes in the Cavanaugh defense, but could not find any, as the Pasquerilla East offense never made it inside the Cavanaugh red zone.
Freshman Jenny Blase and junior Lauren Manning both provided interceptions for the Chaos defense to ensure Pasquerilla East would not move the ball through the air.
But the story of the game was the potent passing attack of Cavanaugh, as Ruffer connected with her three wideouts for big play after big play. With all three wide receivers having receptions of over 25 yards, and Powaga pulling in an amazing 60-yard reception, the Chaos' passing game looked totally prepared going into the playoffs.
The only time Pasquerilla East was able to stop the Cavanaugh passing attack was when Ruffer and the first-team offense sat out a series, and the Pyros were able to get an interception returned for a touchdown. That long interception return provided the only scoring for the Pyros.
Pasquerilla West 6, Breen-Phillips 6
Breen-Phillips moved the ball up and down the field at will all game against Pasquerilla West. So one yard surely would not have kept the Babes from their fourth victory of the season, right?
Well, not quite.
In fact, with the score knotted at 6-6, the Babes failed to score the would-be winning touchdown twice in the final 60 seconds of their regular-season finale against Pasquerilla West. After BP quarterback Ally Brosnan ran eight yards to the Weasel one on first-and-goal, the Babes had three downs and 65 seconds to move the ball 36 inches for the victory.
However, the PW defenders had other thoughts on their minds. Then, the Pasquerilla West defensive line to make its presence felt.
When Brosnan saw the Weasels' tight coverage on the Babes' receivers, she tucked the ball in her arm and made a run for the goal. Unfortunately for her though, Julie Putnam was ready to make a play.
As Brosnan ran toward the right pylon, Putnam chased her down from behind and stopped Breen-Phillips from taking the lead.
When the defensive line pressured Brosnan into throwing an incomplete pass on fourth-and-goal, the Weasels took over on downs with 35 seconds remaining in which to march 77 yards for a winning score.
Under pressure to lead such a long drive in so short a time, PW quarterback Heather Van Hoegarden had to try to make something happen.
However, with 20 seconds left, the Babes intercepted her pass. After an incomplete pass on first down, Brosnan completed a pass to the Weasel one.
The three-foot heartbreak this time, though, was not that BP failed to convert from the one. Instead, the final seconds ticked off the clock before the Babes could snap the ball again, and both teams walked off the field without a victory.
For Brosnan, who finished the game 18-for-29 with 204 yards, the tie gives BP a good learning tool heading into the playoffs.
"It was a good game to prepare," she said. "PW is very good, just like the teams we'll face in the playoffs."
McGlinn 12, Farley 0
With the playoffs out of reach, the McGlinn Shamrocks decided to spend time on not only their actual plays, but also on some potential celebrations. After a convincing 12-0 win over Farley, the Shamrocks made sure to put both to good use.
The McGlinn offense, led by junior quarterback Bridget Meacham, moved the ball down the field with relative ease all night. The offense accumulated 220 total yards on the evening, with 160 of those yards coming through the air.
McGlinn had the Farley defense confused the entire game by throwing double reverses, quarterback options and laterals at the Finest.
Meacham was not the only offensive weapon on display for the McGlinn offense, as junior running back Raquel Ferrer and junior wide receiver "Downtown" Becky Brown stepped up in a big way. Ferrer accounted for 85 yards on offense, including a nifty 40-yard dash off a perfectly executed quarterback option.
Brown used her height and leaping ability to pull down four passes for 150 yards, including two plays of 75 and 45 yards that each resulted in a touchdown. The Shamrock bench made certain to get in the mix as well by being loud and supportive throughout the game.
The McGlinn defense also garnered some attention by pressuring the Farley quarterback-by-committee into two interceptions. As a unit, the Shamrock defense held Farley to 125 yards of total offense, quickly halting any drives that even approached the end zone.
Sophomore wide receiver Megan Spokes and Annie Parrett performed well nonetheless, accounting for nearly all of the Finest's yardage.
"We had a lot of younger players this year, so I think the following years will be good for Farley ... they are some of the most promising players I've seen," senior quarterback and captain Angelina Zehrbach said.
