FLAG CHAMPS: Catholic earns first-ever title in flag football

The Catholic Knights earned their first flag football state championship on Wednesday with a 21-7 win over Moody. (Tim Gayle/David Holtsford)

By TIM GAYLE

BIRMINGHAM -- Catholic senior Jamie McGuire had a simple game plan, but it really hasn’t varied all season long.

“My mindset was just making sure I keep pressure on (Moody quarterback Emma Kyle),” McGuire said. “I knew that she was a very good quarterback and if she had no pressure, she was absolutely going to get those long balls off. So it was just making sure that I was in her face several times to kind of mess her up a little bit.”

McGuire turned in a championship performance, recording a game-high nine tackles, including six for loss, as the Knights completed their mission with a 14-7 win over Moody in the Class 1A-5A flag football championship game at Protective Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.

In the fourth season of flag football in the state of Alabama, Catholic’s third-year program finished its objective after losing to Wenonah in overtime last December in the 1A-5A finals at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

“Honestly, it started in January and props to these girls, they didn’t want that feeling again,” Catholic coach Whitney Toole said. “The day after the game, they were saying, ‘What can we do different? How can we get better for next year?’ They worked all summer, they worked all fall and no one deserves it more than them.”

The offense struggled to click, but the Catholic defense was its absolute best, except for one play where Sophie White caught a short Kyle pass, manuvered through two Catholic would-be tacklers and ran 56 yards to the end zone for a 7-0 lead midway through the second quarter. 

The Blue Devils’ other nine possessions in the game totaled 67 yards on 34 plays, an average of less than two yards per play.

Kyle, one of three seniors on the team, completed 14 of 29 passes for 164 yards, but was sacked four times by McGuire and harassed on virtually every play.

“I think she executed her game plan very well,” Kile said. “She knew exactly what she was going to do and she did that. I feel like we cracked a little bit under the pressure but we didn’t break because we continued to keep pushing forward.”

The Catholic offense, meanwhile, struggled in the first quarter, with three of its first four possessions resulting in interceptions and the other turning the ball over on downs at the Moody 8-yard line.  

“Obviously, new quarterback, young quarterback, and she’s had to put a lot of work in,” Toole said of sophomore Hayden Fitts. “She’s gotten a lot of frustrating comments from me. We have a love-hate relationship. But she has worked hard. Every time I’m in her face, every time I’m fussing, she’s making adjustments.

“They took away the long ball. That’s kind of what we’ve lived and died on throughout the season. They took it away, we missed some short passes, we lost some big opportunities to score in the first half. She settled herself down, she got her head straight and she realized, hey, I’ve got to go with the short passes. I’ve got to use my feet a little. I couldn’t be prouder of the maturity she showed.”

Down 7-0, the Knights marched to the end zone in eight plays, relying on seven Fitts’ completions. The final one was an 11-yard pass to Lily Abbott over the middle, followed by a Fitts’ completion to Anna Russo for the game-tying conversion.

In the fourth quarter, after bottling up the Blue Devils deep in Moody territory, Catholic started on the Moody 20 after a short punt. On the first play, Fitts connected with Abbott in the back of the end zone for the game-winning points with 4:02 remaining.

“I didn’t drop it, so that was nice,” Abbott said. “I thought I was out of bounds.”

The final Moody drive covered 18 yards after McGuire stopped Serenity Rutledge for a 10-yard loss and sacked Kile twice, the final time ending the Blue Devils’ possession with 27 seconds remaining, touching off a Catholic celebration.

Fitts was named the game’s most valuable player after completing 11 of 25 passes for 100 yards and overcoming her two early interceptions with two touchdowns. Abbott had three receptions for 49 yards, while Avery Sadler had four catches for 21 yards.

Defensively, Russo had seven tackles, Fitts had five and Haley Ishman had four stops and three pass breakups for Catholic, which finished at 20-5.

Moody (17-3) was held to minus 28 yards rushing, but Kile led the defensive effort with four tackles, a pass breakup and two interceptions. Rutledge and Zoey Terry each had three stops.  

“A lot of teams in this state that did not get to compete today have been practicing all year round and have been playing since flag football became sanctioned,” Moody coach Wren Moore said. “These girls started practicing two weeks before their first game and got this far. They beat two nationally ranked teams this season. Their goal at the beginning of the season was, obviously, to be here but also to have fun. They don’t realize that from this point forward the standard for the girls’ flag football team at our school has changed for the better.”