FLAG FOOTBALL: Catholic enjoys Senior Night with win over Marbury; Prattville wins
Catholic’s Haley Ishman races for the end zone after a reception in Catholic’s win over Marbury on Tuesday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Catholic senior Lily Abbott enjoyed pregame Senior Night festivities before the Knights’ flag football game with Marbury on Tuesday.
“It was cool,” she said. “We got pictures and stuff, they announced us, we waved. My dad cheered.”
Then Abbott went out and played the role of senior leader, setting career highs in receptions (five), yards (63) and touchdowns (three) in leading the Knights to a 26-0 win over Marbury for the Class 1A-5A Region 4 championship.
“I did really good,” she said. “It was the spirit of Senior Night or something.”
A year ago, Abbott wasn’t participating in sports, but decided to join the Catholic flag football team after the Knights reached the championship game at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
“My friend (and teammate) Sonya Povilus, she wanted to do it, so I said, ‘OK, I’ll do it,” Abbott said. “Spirit of friendship.”
On Tuesday, Catholic coach Whitney Toole was glad of Abbott’s decision after the first-year player pulled in a pair of passes in each corner of the end zone from quarterback Hayden Fitts to stake the Knights to a 19-0 halftime lead.
“She has been consistent for us,” Toole said. “This is her first year of playing and this is probably the best game she’s had. She really stepped up.”
The two teams entered the game in search of the region championship, although Catholic will have to play Selma, a region opponent that initially forfeited to the Knights, in a makeup game on Monday. Catholic scored on their first two possessions to take control of the game against the Bulldogs, a first-year program that is second in the region standings.
“We knew they were going to be good, so we’ve been trying to prep and build this game up for two weeks or so,” Toole said. “We haven’t seen them at all, so we didn’t really know what to expect. But they (Catholic players) came out and executed what we’ve practiced the last couple of days and they played really well.”
And while Abbott stole the limelight with her three-touchdown performance, it was sophomore Haley Ishman who provided the big plays, pulling in six receptions for 114 yards and a touchdown.
“She went from being a third or fourth receiver last year to really stepping up,” Toole said. “She’s embraced the role and is really playing well. She’s had a really big year.”
Fitts completed 16 of 25 passes for 215 yards and four touchdowns, along with two interceptions.
Defensively, Anna Russo had six stops, while Fitts had five and a pass breakup. Ishman also had an interception as the Bulldogs, just eight games into their program’s history, were held to three first downs and 30 total yards by the Knights, now in their third year as a flag football program.
“You can tell sometimes when you’re playing against those types of teams,” Marbury coach Thomas Sowell said. “Teams like that are always well organized and they have the experience. With us, it’s still learning. We have to learn continuously as we go. It’s a rough learning process sometimes.”
The Bulldogs were led on defense by Nunu Jernigan, who had five tackles and a pair of interceptions. Abby Strength had four tackles and an interception, while Carmen Johnson had four tackles.
Marbury (5-3) will return home to play Brew Tech on Thursday, then close out the regular season next week against Tallassee before hosting a first-round playoff game.
Catholic (15-4) improved to 6-0 in region play and will play host to Selma on Monday and face Prattville in Marbury on Tuesday before hosting a first-round playoff game.
Prattville 27 Hoover-0
MARBURY -- Kaytie Chandler threw for four touchdowns and the Prattville defense pitched another shutout in a 27-0 win over Hoover in a Class 6A-7A Region 5 flag football matchup at Marbury High on Tuesday.
It was the sixth shutout of the year for Prattville (11-2), which finished the Region 5 schedule unbeaten at 6-0.
Chandler threw touchdown passes of 3, 30, 12 and 35 yards, with the first two going to Lanieya Page, the third to Hartley McCay and the fourth to Page. McCay also scored on a pair of conversion receptions following the touchdowns.
Page and Avery Patterson had a pair of interceptions, Kehyliah Rogers had an interception and Eriana Benson had an interception as the Lions won their sixth consecutive game. During that stretch, Prattville hasn’t allowed more than a touchdown in any game.
Emma Moore had a pair of sacks for the Prattville defense as well.
The Lions return to action on Thursday with a game at Bulldog Stadium against Opelika at 5:30 p.m., then return to Marbury to close out the regular season with a game against Catholic on Tuesday.