Walsh 19, Pangborn 6
Walsh earned their first win of the season last night with a victory over Pangborn.
The Wild Women (1-1) jumped out to an early lead aided by a punt return inside the 20-yard line. Following a reverse that brought the ball to the 1-yard line, Meghan Hadley scored Walsh's first touchdown of the season on a double reverse. On the next possession, Hadley gave Walsh a 13-0 lead with a 10-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Amy Langnecker.
The Phoxes (0-2) answered with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Cathy Poploski from quarterback Gabby Tate, making the score 13-6. The Phoxes threatened to score another touchdown right before the first half, but Gabby Tate's 20-yard pass was dropped in the end zone.
Walsh added a late touchdown on a QB sneak to make the score 19-6.
Last night's game was a major turn around for the Wild Women.
"We were timid in the first game," assistant coach Dan Brown said. "This week we were a lot more aggressive. While we had a lot more penalties, that's no a problem because it is more important that we were playing hard."
Part of the success may have been due to shifted coaching responsibilities. After last week's loss, head coach JJ Reyes took over both the offensive and the defense.
"We are focused on having more fun and that is translating on the field," Reyes said.
Missed opportunities prevented the Phoxes from scoring more points. The receivers couldn't hold onto the ball, dropping several passes, including two in the end zone. However, one highlight for Pangborn was the play of Tate. She had no problem throwing the deep ball or throwing rolling out of the pocket.
"She moved around in the pocket well and extended lots of plays," offensive coordinator Patrick Kirkland said. "She put us in a position to win the game."
Pangborn will look to get their first win of the season this weekend at Badin.
Farley 14, Badin 12
In a heated game with two lead changes in the final minutes, Farley's Finest pulled out a close win against the Badin Bullfrogs.
Farley quarterback Emily Murphy and Badin quarterback Katie Rose each threw two touchdowns in the game.
The first few drives of the game left both teams scoreless thanks to each team's strong defensive play. Despite Farley's offense driving inside the Badin 20-yard line twice, Badin's red-zone defense prevailed and Farley was unable to capitalize on the good field position.
"Their defense stopped us a couple times on the 1-yard line and we kind of got sick of it," Farley captain Jenny Rolfs said.
Farley went on to score a touchdown and take the lead 7-6. But after throwing an interception, Badin was able to drive down the field and take the lead 12-7, thanks to a failed 2-point conversion.
With two minutes left in the game, the pressure was on for Farley to score quickly, but there wasn't a sense of panic from the team.
"I knew that we had enough time and we had been moving the ball pretty successfully all game but hadn't put it in the end zone. It was a matter of determination and we got it done," Rolfs said.
On a series of great plays, Farley quarterback Emily Murphy had several great runs to pick up a first down when the team needed it. The drive resulted in a touchdown and sealed the win for Farley's Finest.
"[The win] was awesome. When we needed it, we brought it together. Our quarterback had some great runs and we ended up winning," Rolfs said.
"You have to give it to Farley, they played great at the end of the game and got the win," Rose said.
Despite the loss, the Bullfrogs' performance gave them plenty of reasons to be excited about the remainder of the season.
"I was really proud of our girls. I think this is the best I've seen us play offensively and defensively in the past few years," Rose said.
Welsh Fam 19, Lewis 0
The Welsh Family Whirlwinds came out firing on all cylinders as they took down the Lewis Chicks on Thursday night.
Quarterback Jenni Gargula completed her first three passes, then threw a 20-yard touchdown pass and converted the extra point to give the Whirlwinds an early 7-0 lead.
"We really moved the ball well early," Gargula said. "Lewis was playing man-to-man coverage to start and we threw downfield to exploit that. Our receivers matched up well against them."
After the quick score, the first half settled down into a defensive battle as both teams had drives that ended in interceptions in the opposing team's end zone. The Chicks had their best opportunity to score late in the first half, after a good defensive effort gave them the ball in Whirlwinds territory. However, as they often did, Welsh Fam came up with another interception and went into the half with the lead.
In the second half, the Whirlwinds dominated on both sides of the ball. The defense added two more interceptions to give them a total of four for the game. Senior Erin Fitzpatrick picked off two, senior Katie Rehberger added another, and sophomore Samantha Miller tallied one more. On offense, Gargula passed for one score and handed off the ball for another.
After the game, Welsh Fam offensive coach Mark Mihallo had words of praise for his team.
"Overall it was a great win, we passed and ran very well," Mihallo said. "Still, all the credit has to go to our defense today."
"It was our second shutout of the year, our defense really stepped up. We stuck to our game plan and it worked for us. We have some work to do this week to improve some of our coverage schemes, but we're feeling good," assistant coach David Costanzo said.
As for Gargula, she has her team focused on what's ahead.
"We're confident right now, but we have some tough games coming up," she said. "Ultimately, we have our minds set on going to the stadium."
