Excuse the Lasalle Lancers girls? flag football team for feeling snakebitten after dropping a 6-1 decision to the Lockerby Vikings in the high school championship last week.
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Lockerby won championship against Lasalle last week. The Vikings are coached by Kent Staffen, Marnie Staffen and Jessica Knuff. |
On Oct. 22, the Lancers held a 3-0 lead in a regular-season contest only to see the Vikings march the length of the field to score the winning touchdown in the waning moments.
Last Wednesday, the Lancers held a late 1-0 lead thanks to Lockerby?s inability to get the ball out of the endzone on a second-half punt.
?After they scored, I told the girls to calm down and get focused,? said Lockerby head coach Marnie Staffen. ?I told them to get the first down and go on from there.?
The next series saw long runs, by running back Karla Winters, wasted thanks to penalties. After the Lancers failed to advance the ball, the Vikings got the ball back for a final series and put the ball in Winters? hands.
?In the time out, I emphasized that whatever they were going to do, they had to do it now,? said Staffen.
Starting on the Lockerby 42-yard line, Winters ran off gains of eight, five 15, 10 and 10 yards in a drive that culminated with a 12-yard sweep for the winning score with just one play remaining in the game.
The major gave Lockerby its second consecutive flag football title and the distinction of being the only repeat champion in the league?s history.
?Karla and Krista (Cecchetto) showed they could run well throughout the game,? said Staffen. ?It was just a matter of the offensive line stepping up and making the plays when they need to.?
Throughout the scoreless first half, the Vikings? backs rattled off long gains against the Lancers, only to see the gains negated by penalties.
?The penalties really kept us off-balance,? said Staffen. ?They start to play with the girls? minds after awhile.?
Penalties aside, both teams fought an evenly-matched contest, with the Lancers moving the ball in the air and on the ground. Lockerby?s Krista Zdyv attempted just one pass in the entire game-it was intercepted.
?I don?t like to pass against teams that have a strong passing game, because that usually means that their pass defence is also strong,? said Staffen.
Entering the contest, the fourth-place Lancers were riding the crest of euphoria after they stunned first-place Notre Dame 7-0 on Tuesday night. The
semi-final win followed a 6-4 triumph over Lo-Ellen Park in a tie-breaker for fourth place.
