Girls Flag Football Team Loses Last Home Game

The girl’s flag football team played their last home game at the school as part of the Greater Miami Athletic Conference (GMAC) against Jackson Senior High School on April 18. The Cavaliers lost 6-0, despite playing well for most of the game.

The game started off with both teams going head to head. Both teams were on their game and were giving it their all. The field was filled with tension from both teams, sporadically glancing at the bleachers, trying not to let their fans down. Unfortunately, the spectators in the audience were uninterested in the game, as a result of neither team scoring points. The students that came to support the players from Jackson were more engaged, loyally attending a game at another school, but even they gave up after the first quarter. Jackson managed to win in the last ten seconds of the fourth quarter by scoring a touchdown. They managed to score their only touchdown by passing the ball to an open receiver, that was standing a yard away from the touchdown zone.

“[Jackson] is probably the most talented team we’ve played the entire three years. We both played very well defensively, but our offense was sort of slow,” senior and defensive linebacker Gabriela Morales said. “Even though we’re eliminated from GMAC, our coach is very proud of us because we played very well against a ranked team.”

Though it is possible that the Cavaliers were having a bad day and were therefore not playing to the best of their abilities, their loss was most likely due to talent displayed by Jackson’s defense team. The flag football offensive and defensive teams played equally as well, but our school’s offense was unable to measure up the quality that Jackson’s defensive team exhibited.

Although both teams were at an equilibrium in terms of scoring for most of the game and both exemplified strong work ethics, this is not surprising for events where both teams are experienced.

To compete in the GMAC tournament, the first seed team from every district in Miami-Dade County has to be chosen. For a team to be ranked as a first seed team is honorable because it signifies that they have been given a preliminary ranking overall.

Coach Welsh, our school’s girls flag football teams’ coach, chooses the players that will compete in tournaments such as GMAC according to their speed and experience. Technically, there is no official distinction between the girl’s flag football team, unlike most other teams that are organized in terms of junior varsity and varsity. Although there is no distinction, junior varsity games are sometimes hosted and the players on the team that normally do not participate play.

“I think that it [our loss] will bring us back into the right mindset for going into the playoffs…Now we know what it feels like to lose and I think that will give us the fire and the hunger to want to win districts,” freshman Mia Crabill said.

The lady Cavs then played at the district’s game at Braddock. Their win determined if they would progress to play the championship game on Friday.