By CHRIS BERNHARDT JR.
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BROOKSVILLE – It took just three years for the Hernando High flag football team to reach the Final Four.
In a historic day for the fledgling program, the Leopards became the first county flag football squad to win a regional championship when it downed undefeated Clay 18-6 in the Region 2A-2 final on Thursday at Tom Fisher Memorial Stadium.
“It feels freaking great,” Hernando head coach Tyson Ellis said. “So big. Such a young program, third year playing flag football. Starting out independent our first year, last year went 5-9. This year we’re 15-3 right now, we’re going to the Final Four. The girls worked in the offseason, they got the reps in, and hard work pays off.”
“… There’s a lot of good flag football in the county with Nature Coast, Central, Springstead, Weeki Wachee, they’re all very good flag football teams and they prepare us. We have a tough district and a tough county we play in, and they prepare us for this. The girls never got too up, too down. They knew they were in the game the whole time and made adjustments as we go, and they executed and pulled flags.”
“… We knew all of our stuff is there. We just had to execute, execute and pull flags, keep everything in front of us. The girls, they did a great job of being coached up. I’m very proud of them and I’m excited for them. We’re going to the Final Four.”
That Hernando won the region isn’t necessarily a surprise considering it was the top seed. But the second-seeded Blue Devils came in 14-0.
“Really when the playoffs start, everybody is 0-0. It doesn’t matter what your record is coming into it,” Ellis said. “We need to show up and play our game. It doesn’t matter who we see on the other side of the field, we just got to show up and play our game. And if we play our game, we are a very hard team to beat when we execute and do those right things.”
Clay looked strong early, taking the game’s first possession down the Hernando 5-yard line before a sack by Alexis Sway on fourth down ended the drive. Another sack by Sway would lead to a second turnover on downs on the second Blue Devils possession, and the Leopards followed with a 4-yard touchdown run by quarterback Carlie Grant to make it 6-0 at 7:45 in the second quarter.
The game was tied by Clay with 1:07 to go before halftime on an 18-yard touchdown pass over top the middle of the field from Teaghan Moses to Tatum Waugh.
On the opening possession of the second half, the Leopards moved the ball down the field and scored on a 3-yard from pass from Annabelle Chamberlain to the versatile Grant.
“I think that’s our best game. That’s definitely our best game,” Grant said. “I just got to be patient, and I can just walk it right in (on the first touchdown)… Pretty easy (on the second touchdown). I was open.”
An interception by Cora Parker on the first play of the fourth quarter seemed to turn momentum toward the Blue Devils. But after Clay had first-and-goal inside the Hernando 20, Aajyrah Adams picked off a pass in the end zone that tipped off the fingers of the receiver.
The Leopards got to the Clay 1 on a 60-yard pass from Grant to Kenderlyn Hart, and the two connected again over middle of the end zone for a touchdown, making it a two-score game with 4:10 to play.
“History in the making,” Hart said of the victory. “We were just running Rainbow (an offensive play) and they lined up in a different defense, and I was gone (on the 60-yarder). The ref just didn’t think so.”
“… I just waited for it to get to me (on the touchdown) and they ran man (defense) that play. I just went up and got it.”
Clay had one more possession that ended on another interception by Adams. It was a standout defensive performance for the team that also included four sacks combined by Sway and Sklya McCorts.
“It was good communication. We needed our middle, but we got it covered,” Adams said.
Next up for the Leopards, the state semifinals on May 9 at the Advent Health Training Center in Tampa.
“I told the girls, we had three business days left coming in. Now we have two business days left,” Ellis said. “We’re going to the Final Four next Friday and we’re going to have some fun. We’re going to enjoy it and see what we can do. We’ve got a business day next Friday, so let’s go take care of business.”
