Trading hugs for butt-pats, the Breen-Phillips Babes displayed obvious elation as the clock wound down in their 20-19 win over the McGlinn Shamrocks Tuesday night at Riehle Field.
The nail-biter pitted two of the Blue League's most dynamic passing attacks, both showing impressive skill and ability for the full 40 minutes.
The Shamrocks drew first blood with Bridget Meacham's 4-yard touchdown pass to Onkay Wong, but the Babes answered on the next drive with a 77-yard touchdown pass from Ali Brosnan to Megan Ohlenforst.
"We had some extra blockers in, and I saw Megan burn the defender downfield. She was wide open and I just made an easy throw," Brosnan said.
After making the two-point conversion to go up 8-6, Breen-Phillips made a defensive stand and took possession with about five minutes left in the first half. They took immediate advantage of good field position, and scored again when Brosnan hit Chrissy Lauinger just inside the goal line from nine yards out, capping a 45-yard drive.
"We wanted to score quickly to get a little cushion going into the half," Lauinger said. "I just ran a little down-and-out to the front of the end zone and Ali hit me with a good pass."
The cushion didn't last long, however, as Meacham connected with Raquel Ferrer on a 70-yard Shamrock touchdown on the ensuing drive. After converting on the point-after-touchdown, the first half came to a close with Breen-Phillips leading 14-13.
Ferrer made another big play to open the second half, scoring on a 49-yard pass from Meacham to take a 19-14 lead over the Babes. But the lead wasn't enough to stop Breen-Phillips. With just minutes remaining, Brosnan connected with Jaclyn Riffert from 10 yards out to go up 20-19.
"We had the sidelines open all game, and we just took advantage of it," Riffert said.
The game then rested on the shoulders of the Babes' defense, which passed the test, keeping McGlinn out of the end zone on a late drive.
"Our defense really stepped up big, especially at the end of the game when it mattered most," Brosnan commented.
Though disappointed to come out on the losing end, McGlinn captain Liz Maher felt that the season opener went pretty well.
"I think the game was pretty equal; it basically came down to timing," Maher said. "This was our first game, and I thought we did a lot of things really well. We found some things to work on, but we'll be ready for next week."
Farley 14, PE 0
Farley looked to establish itself as the finest team in interhall football and it did just that.
The Finest defeated Pasquerilla East 14-0 Tuesday evening.
Farley began the contest with big plays early in the first half, with senior Molly Swanston intercepting a PE pass and setting the Finest up with great field position. While Farley was unable to convert, the team did manage to prevent PE from moving past its own endzone. PE struggled throughout most of the first half because of the strong Farley defense.
The offense also showed its strength as Farley's junior quarterback Katie Popik connected with sophomore wide receiver Megan Spokes for a 35 yard touchdown pass to give Farley an early 7-0 lead.
This play was only a sign of things to come for the Finest squad.
Prior to the match, Finest captain Angelina Zehrbach expected Spokes to have a tremendous impact for the team. Behind Spokes, the team led by a touchdown going into halftime.
Coming into the second half, Popik again connected on a long touchdown pass, this time a 60-yarder to Diane Duran. This proved to be too much for the Pyros to overcome.
While PE gained considerable yardage from sophomore quarterback Laura Adams and freshman wide receiver Caroline Nally, the Farley defensive bent, but never broke.
"In the second half of our first game against BP the defensive really stepped it up, and that intensity just carried over to this game," Zehrbach said.
Fortunately for Farley, its defense in the second half prevented any hope of a PE comeback.
PE struggled to convert great field into points during the second half twice. Farley senior Molly Fox's goal line interception sealed the Pyro's fate for its first loss of the season.
As good as the defense played, it was Farley's twin terrors at the receiver position, Duran and Spokes, which truly spelled the end for PE. Calling themselves the Jerry Rice and Randy Moss of women's interhall football, Spokes and Duran served notice to the rest of the campus that Farley has been underestimated.
"We started at the bottom, but will finish at the top," Spokes said.
Walsh 6, PW 6
Tuesday night's game between Pasquerilla West (0-0-1) and Walsh (0-0-2) proved to be an intense rivalry that resulted in a potentially season ending injury.
Walsh quarterback and team captain Carrie Campbell rolled her ankle during the second half after being tackled by a PW defender.
Campbell's return date is unknown.
The contest ended in a 6-6 tie, primarily due to a defensive stalemate that could not be broken.
The Purple Weasels defensive line managed to limit Walsh to only two first downs.
"Our defense really stepped it up. We had a great goal line stand at the end," PW coach Joe McCarthy said.
On offense, PW managed to begin the game with a touchdown pass to Maureen Spring.
"It was really exciting; we got off to a great start. Everyone was really pumped after that," Spring said.
Unfortunately for the Purple Weasels, its offense failed to score for the remainder of the game. Pasquerilla West only managed to complete six for 18 passes and threw four interceptions.
However, coach Matt Whittington is not concerned.
"We're going to keep rotating quarterbacks, see who connects with receivers," Whittington said. "I'm not worried about it at all."
Leading the Walsh defense was Katie Hesmond and Patty Rose. The two proved to be a critical aspect of the Wild Women defense as both players made two interceptions.
"It was nice to get some interceptions, but we missed some tackles on defense," Rose said. "We need to step it up on Sunday and we'll be ready to go."
The first interception of the four was converted into a touchdown pass from Campbell. Campbell was injured during the extra point attempt as she was running towards the endzone.
"Losing her was an obvious detriment. But Mary Sullivan, our freshman quarterback stepped up," coach David Brenner said. "She'll be a big player for Walsh in future seasons I'm sure."
Despite the loss of its starting quarterback and captain, Walsh made no interceptions. But the Wild women continued to struggle offensively. Its offensive weaknesses were exploited when Walsh failed to score in the final play of the game by dropping the ball in the end zone.
