FLAG FOOTBALL RECAP: Catholic hosts Auburn, Prattville in tripleheader match
Action from the flag football tripleheader at Catholic High School on Tuesday featuring the Knights, Prattville and Auburn. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
It wasn’t very entertaining if you came for offense, but Catholic’s defense scored one touchdown and set up another in the first minutes of the game, then held off Prattville’s flag football team 12-0 for the Knights’ fifth shutout of the season.
“Our defense is one of our strongest points,” Catholic sophomore Anna Russo said. “We practice it a lot, we mesh really well together and it’s great.”
The game was the third of three played at Catholic on Tuesday afternoon. Auburn defeated Catholic in overtime in the first game and Prattville defeated Auburn in the second game.
“Our defense kept us in both games,” Catholic coach Whitney Toole said. “The interception was good momentum for the beginning of the game for us.”
Kate Robertson’s interception return for a touchdown on the third play of the game set the tone for a game that featured just 11 rushing yards between the two teams and 81 total yards combined.
In the second half, a 21-yard completion from Prattville quarterback Hartley McCay to receiver Lanieya Page accounted for nearly all of the combined 31 yards of offense between the two teams.
“Number one, give Whitney and Catholic credit,” Prattville coach Brian Pittman said. “They came out and were ready to play. They were very good defensively. I thought they did a great job throwing some things at us that we had not seen. We’ve seen a lot of one-high safety and they threw two at us. It took a little while to adjust. Give them credit. They capitalized on two mistakes we made.
“We could never get going. We were on that big high (after beating Auburn) and it took us a little while to get back where we needed to be. Our girls have to learn there are times you have to play back to back. This is the first time we’ve done this and it’s new to (the players), but that’s no excuse. They were just stifling on defense and we couldn’t do a whole lot with them tonight.”
After giving up points on an interception, the Prattville defense held firm on Catholic’s next two trips into the red zone, but Robertson’s 18-yard punt return, coupled with a personal foul penalty for tackling the punt returner, set up the Knights with a first and goal at the Prattville 8-yard line and quarterback Jehle Dickson spun into the end zone on the next play for a 12-0 lead with 1:28 remaining in the first half.
Prattville turned the ball over on downs on two of its three second-half possessions, struggling to maintain any offensive consistency. Catholic’s offense struggled as well, but after losing a heartbreaker to the 7A Tigers earlier in the afternoon, Toole and her players were happy for a Tuesday split after beating the 7A Lions.
“We’re excited to play both teams because we haven’t played offenses like this, other than Central,” Toole said. “They’re making us better for the future.”
“It was a great challenge for all of us,” Russo said. “We’ve got things to work on. It was a great gauge for where we’re at this season.”
Flag football, now in its third year, split into two divisions this year as Catholic will compete in 1A-5A. After watching the Knights on Tuesday, Pittman believes their defense is championship caliber.
“I think she’s right there with a chance to win it,” he said. “They’re going to be that good. Defensively, that’s one of the better teams we’ve run up on. They’re solid.”
Prattville 19, Auburn 14
Kaylee Robles intercepted a pass on Auburn’s first drive and Kaytie Chandler scored the game-winning touchdown with 14.5 seconds left as Prattville handed Auburn’s flag football team its first loss of the season in a 19-14 thriller at Catholic on Tuesday.
“We took advantage of some opportunities we got,” Prattville coach Brian Pittman said. “I thought we played really efficient offensively and made some plays defensively. They’re a great team. I don’t think it defined the season for us, but I do think it’s something where people will take notice that we are somebody to be reckoned with when it comes playoff time.”
The game was the second of three played at Catholic on Tuesday afternoon. Auburn defeated Catholic in overtime in the first game and Catholic defeated Prattville in the third game.
The defending state champions (5-1) drove the length of the field in the first three plays of the game, setting up a second and goal at the Prattville 7-yard line. As Auburn quarterback Brooke Hallman threw in the left flat at the goal line for her favorite target, Daley Alsobrook, Robles stepped in front and snared the interception at the 2-yard line, returning it 24 yards to put Prattville in good field position.
The Lions responded with a six-play, 54-yard drive, using five running plays to set up Hartley McCay’s 30-yard touchdown pass over the middle to Lanieya Page for a 6-0 lead.
Early in the second half, Prattville scored another touchdown and added the conversion for a 13-0 lead. Chandler, who has been sidelined for the better part of a month with an ankle injury, entered the game and fired passes of 37 yards to Robles and 17 yards to Page, setting up a 6-yard scoring reception by Mady-Kate Lindsey.
At times, the Lions put both quarterbacks, Chandler and McCay, in the backfield, creating problems for the Tigers’ defense.
“We had our starting quarterback, Kaytie Chandler, back and then she got hurt,” McCay said. “It still worked out because I’ve been at quarterback for a while now. We had good blocking, we were tough, we were ready to play. Second game (against Catholic), not as much. We were tired.”
“I think they play well feeding off each other,” Pittman added. “Hartley’s done a great job filling in, but Kaytie does give us another dynamic and, also, it opens up the playbook more with both of them back there.”
Hallman, who completed 15 of 21 passes for 211 yards, engineered an Auburn comeback in a matter of minutes, firing touchdown passes of 26 and 12 yards to Alsobrook on successive possessions and running in one conversion and throwing for another to give the Tigers a quick 14-13 lead with 5:05 left.
Prattville then drove the length of the field as Chandler went 4 for 4 for 49 yards in the nine-play drive, hitting Page for 20 yards and Robles for 19 on back-to-back plays to put the ball on the Auburn 2-yard line with 50 seconds left.
Two handoffs to McCay got a yard, setting up Chandler’s keeper to the right as the junior dove for the pylon to give the Lions an emotional win.
“We get really hyped up for games,” McCay said. “We were on a high. Then (against Catholic) I don’t know what happened.”
McCay led all rushers with 22 yards on 10 carries.
Chandler was helped to her feet after the play and sat out the Lions’ second game as she went through concussion protocol.
“She was making a play and that’s what Kaytie does,” Pittman said. “She seemed fine on the sidelines, but we sat her out as a precaution.”
Auburn 12, Catholic 6
Catholic was turned back at the goal line in regulation and shut out in overtime as Auburn handed the Knights their first loss of the season in a flag football game at Catholic on Tuesday.
The Knights had posted four shutouts to open the season and put an impressive defense on display against the defending state champions, but Madison Allen scored on a 1-yard run in overtime to give Auburn a 12-6 win.
“Up until this point, Central (Phenix City) was the only 7A school we had played, in an exhibition, so we were kind of excited about playing Auburn, who had won state last year,” Catholic coach Whitney Toole said. “We competed, but we kind of beat ourselves in that one. We made a couple of mistakes that they scored on. But I think it was good for us. We saw that we can compete (with the best teams in the state) and that’s a big confidence booster for us. We played well, we just had a couple of mistakes on our end that ended up costing us.”
The game was the first of three played at Catholic on Tuesday afternoon. Prattville defeated Auburn in the second game and Catholic defeated Prattville in the third game.
Catholic drove into the red zone on its second possession but couldn’t capitalize. Auburn took the ensuing drive 65 yards, using a pair of big completions from Brooke Hallman to Allen and capping the drive with a fourth-down, 14-yard completion in the corner of the end zone from Hallman to Daley Alsobrook for a 6-0 lead.
It was the first touchdown surrendered by the Catholic defense this season.
Auburn (5-0) ran the ball just six times (for four yards) in the game, relying on Hallman’s passing. Alsobrook had 68 yards on five receptions, Allen had 49 yards on four catches and Hannah Romines had 18 yards on three catches.
“The Auburn quarterback is a great quarterback, but we also got lost (in coverage) on a couple of plays and it gives us some stuff to go back and work on,” Toole said.
Four consecutive completions by Hallman had Auburn in the red zone in the middle of the second half, but Catholic held. An interception by Hallman gave the Tigers the ball on the next play with 3:52 (on a running clock), but Anna Russo rescued the Knights when a 51-yard interception return to the end zone with 3:22 remaining.
Catholic was stopped short on the conversion but had tied the game at 6-6.
“It was a shock, a big adrenalin rush,” Russo said. “It was great because it picked up our entire team, got our spirit up.”
After a three and out, Kate Robertson returned the Auburn punt 18 yards to the Auburn 27-yard line with 1:47 remaining. Back-to-back completions from Jehle Dickson to Russo moved the ball to a first and goal at the Auburn 8-yard line with 59 seconds left, but a block-in-the-back penalty moved the Knights back. A pair of incomplete passes and a fourth-down interception sent the game into overtime.
Catholic got the ball first, but a Russo rush for no gain and three incomplete passes turned the ball over on downs. Hallman threw 9 yards to Romines to set up Allen’s game-winning sweep on the next play.
Dickson led the rushing attack with 42 yards on six carries, followed by Russo’s 24 yards on five carries and Ann Cobb’s 21 yards on five carries.
Cobb, Russo and Jamie McGuire all had four tackles to lead the defense. Two of McGuire’s tackles were sacks.