By: J. Daniel Pearson
Normally a young team will tend to get rattled when falling behind in a big playoff game.
But there is nothing normal about Harmony’s flag football team, as the Lady Longhorns rallied from a halftime deficit for the second playoff game in a row to defeat Ft. Pierce Central, 15-7, for the FHSAA Class 3A, Region 3 championship on Tuesday night.
The win, the fourth regional championship in Harmony’s history, puts them into the State Final Four starting next Friday at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice facility. Although official pairings will not be announced until later this week, if nothing changes in the state rankings Harmony will most likely play Ruskin’s Lennard in the one semifinal with Park Vista (18-0), the top ranked team in 4A, playing Tocoi Creek in the other semi.
“This team just doesn’t get nervous when we get behind,” Harmony coach Paul Strauch said. “It’s partially due to the fact that we have some great senior leadership but I also think it’s because a lot of our young players aren’t smart enough to know that when you fall behind in a playoff people expect you to panic.”
At the end of the day, Harmony did just enough on offense to win the game, but it was its defense that stood out – registering six defensive stops and holding Central’s offense to 14 points under their season average.
The stats speak for themselves.
Central’s Karla Timothy and Erin Boyd entered the game with a combined 2020 receiving yards and 22 touchdowns. They were held to four catches for 33 yards and no scores. Quarterback Kailee Grone came into the contest with 45 touchdowns responsible for, but she was limited to just one scoring pass.
“We dinked and dunked the ball down the field, controlled the clock and did just enough offensively to win the game, but it was our defense and my defensive coordinator Drew (Head Coach Paul Strauch’s brother Drew Strauch) that deserve all the credit tonight. We held a very explosive, athletic team with an outstanding quarterback to one score tonight and even that came on a fourth and goal play from the 15 that we should have defended.”
Despite the stellar defensive effort, the game was not decided until the final minute.
The game was scoreless until the second quarter when Grones hit Rickiya White on a touchdown pass from the 15 on a fourth and goal play.
Meanwhile, Harmony was held scoreless thanks to two calls that went against them.
On one drive Khloe Cook was ruled short of the end zone when she reached over the goal line on a fourth-down reception and one series later, officials ruled that Ellah Husbands’ flag was pulled before she crossed the goal line a fourth down running play from less than one foot from the goal line. Husbands had taken a direct snap close to the line of scrimmage on the play and Longhorn coaches argued to no avail with the officials that it would be next to impossible for her flag to be pulled based on the one-yard neutral zone.
With Harmony trailing 7-0 at half, they would finally get things moving offensively in the third quarter. Freshman quarterback Ivy Munns directed a 13-play, 65-yard drive capped on a fourth down touchdown pass to Husbands. The touchdown was only made possible after defensive back Karla Timothy dropped a sure interception in the end zone a play later.
The Longhorns missed the extra point and trailed. 7-6.
After a huge defensive stop, Harmony took advantage of good field position and a 15-yard personal foul to move the ball into the red zone. On a fourth and goal, Munns hit Cook from nine yards out for the score. Yanielyz Santiago-Torres added the conversion and Harmony led for the first time, 13-7.
Central got the ball back with a chance to take the lead but on back-to-back plays, the Longhorns got two outstanding pass defenses from Husbands and sophomore Georgia Werk to force a punt.
With under minutes to go, Munns would keep a Harmony drive alive with a 24-yard completion to Jada Bloodworth on a third and 19 play. A roughing the passer penalty gave Harmony a first down on the eight. But Harmony was unable to put the game away when the drive stalled out on the one-yard line with an incompletion on fourth down.
Central had 1:35 remaining and two timeouts to drive the length of the field for a tie or potential win with an extra point. Hopes of a comeback ended two plays later when the Cobras were called for an illegal block in the end zone which resulted in a Harmony safety.
With a 15-7 lead and Central down to their final timeout, Munns took two knees to end the game.
Munns finished the game 36 of 51 for 254 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Senior center Kaylie Conley had 10 receptions for 49, Santiago-Torres had 10 for 56 and Bloodworth had a team-high 64 receiving yards on five receptions. Overall, Harmony had just three pass plays go for 10 or more yards.
This will be Harmony’s fourth appearance in the state finals tournament third trip to the Final Four. They reached the 1A championship game in 2016, losing to Robinson, 20-0 and were knocked out of the semifinals in 2019 by Dillard, 20-13. Back in 2014, when flag football was a single classification sport, the top eight teams advanced to a state championship tournament in Tallahassee, where the Longhorns lost to Robinson, 46-0, in the quarterfinal round.
In other flag action, Gateway (14-4) saw its season come to end last Tuesday in a 49-0 loss to four-time defending state champion Robinson in a Class 2A Regional semifinal.
In softball, regional action began Thursday night with St. Cloud (18-10) getting two RBI each from freshmen Zhyra Dela Cruz and Jaidah Kelley and a three-hit complete game performance from senior Addison Felblinger (11 strikeouts) as the Bulldogs topped Tohopekaliga (11-6) in a Class A. Region 2 quarterfinal.
The win puts #3 see St. Cloud at home for a regional semifinal after #2 Wellington was upset by #7 Centennial, 5-2. In the same region, Harmony saw its season come to and end with a 6-2 loss to Boone.
