Kanaar Nabs Pick and Touchdown as Eagles Soar Past Leopards

The Springstead Eagles (6-1) cruised to a 19-0 victory over the Hernando Leopards (1-4) at Tom Fisher Stadium in Monday night’s flag football showdown. The Purple and Gold held close through the first half only surrendering a touchdown catch by Senior WR Samantha Suarez midway through the second quarter, but Springstead would pull away for the comfortable win after halftime. This was thanks to a handful of key contributions from Senior Ava Kanaar. Eagles Head Coach Andrew Sitar spoke on the senior’s impact and the challenges that Hernando posed following the match’s conclusion.

“Kanaar is a huge addition to our team,” Coach Sitar said. “Having her on the field is amazing. [It is] any coach’s dream having her on the field for you.” He went on to note that Hernando “showed some different looks offensively that are not very traditional when it comes to flag football. We had to make some adjustments defensively. We were able to do that and then hold them to zero points tonight.”

The home team had a couple of big moments in the matchup, but many of their non-traditional plays were unsuccessful on Monday. Even Hernando’s largest gain of the night that put them in prime scoring territory was kept out of the endzone due to Springstead’s stifling secondary. Kanaar led by example on this play that saw Freshman Ayana Kincade catch a short pass and begin pulling away for a presumed long touchdown on the second to last play of the third frame. Then, as if shot out of a cannon, the all-purpose Springstead senior tracked down Kincade at the Eagles 10 yard line for a 55-yard gain but no touchdown. The visitors would make little progress from here as Kanaar preserved the shutout with an interception on fourth down on Hernando’s best scoring opportunity of the evening.

Kanaar was all over the field on Monday night as the play directly preceding Kincade’s long reception was another big play by the senior. On the first play of the visitors’ drive, Ava caught a short pass and racked up the YAC (yards after catch) on a 64-yard touchdown catch-and-run. The Eagles’ captain was seemingly unstoppable during the late third-early fourth quarter stretch. Kanaar would also record an extra point after Sophomore QB J’Ziyah Munford completed a 40-yard touchdown pass to Sophomore WR Addisson Osborne on the final play of the game to bring her dominant night to a close.

While the Leopards would be shut out at home, they still showed flashes of potential against their strong cross county foe. The multifaceted freshman’s long near-touchdown catch among others, combined with her making tackle after tackle on defense signals a versatile piece that Hernando Head Coach Tyson Ellis can build around for years to come. The Eagles will look to continue their early season dominance by avoiding mishaps moving forward like they did against Hernando. “If we minimize our mistakes and continue to fine tune the small things, we will continue to get better and better as we go,” said Coach Sitar.