Photo: Olivia Butler pulls the flags of running back Jhianae DeRosier as Halle Terelak-Foster helped to slow her down in the first half.
The Prescott Badgers season came to an end in the 4A Division semifinals to the Salpointe Catholic Lancers 31-18 on a cold rainy night in Prescott.
Photo: The Badgers bench did their best to keep dry during the game.
The #4 Lancers came out firing on all cylinders from the beginning by using their quickness and speed to gain control of the game in the first half.
Photo: 1 Rianna Aguilar launches a pass while 4 Oliva Raber keeps the defense at a safe distance
The Badgers got the ball first and everyone got to see right away the Salpointe Catholic aggressiveness. Prescott decided to punt near midfield, hoping to pin the visitors deep in their territory. Unfortunately, it just made it a longer drive.
Photo: 22 Daria Young goes after Lancers quarterback Isla Collins
Lancers freshmen quarterback Isla Collins had a big game, being involved on all four Salpointe Catholic touchdowns, led her team quickly down the field and hitting Soli Ramos on a 5 yard touchdown pass to make it 7-0 midway through the opening quarter.
After a second Badger punt, Collins used her speed to get around numerous players as she went 69 yards for the score.
The Badgers continued to struggle offensively and punted a third time. This time the Prescott defense stopped Salpointe Catholic forcing a Andie Tkalcevic field goal from 25 yards to make the score 17-0 with two minutes left in the first half.
The Badgers moved the ball but turned it over on downs at the Lancers 30. Salpointe Catholic got right back at it and moved the ball into Prescott territory, but the Badgers defense once again kept them from putting any additional points on the board.
The Lancers added another seven on the board to go up 24-0 with eight minutes left in the third. The score remained that way till Prescott finally broke through.
Photo: Maggie Maneely scores her final touchdown as a Prescott Badger
Maggie Maneely scored the first of her final two touchdowns on a 7 yard pass from quarterback Rianna Aguilar with 4:37 left.
The Badgers defense put up another stop and Prescott had the ball at their own 11 yard line with two minutes remaining. On the first play, a tipped pass went right to Collins who went in for the pick-six from 15 yards out and a 31-6 deficit for the #1 team.
Prescott went down the field quickly and picked up a chunk of yardage on a pass to Mallory Walsh that went for 60 yards. Aguilar then connected with Maneely for the second time and the score was 31-12 with under a minute to play.
The Badgers did an on-side kick, which is actually a pass play, and Aguilar threw the ball nearly as far as she could hitting Aubrey Kitihata in stride who took it the distance 75 yards to close the deficit to 31-18. Another two point attempt failed. Then another onside kick/pass attempt fell incomplete and the season came to an end right there.
It was an emotional defeat for the Badgers, who suffered their first ever home loss and were ranked at the top spot in Division 4A the entire season.
Reflecting on the season, Coach Ryan Hart said, “We started off strong playing good football and had that tournament in the middle of the season which was an incredible test for these girls to come prepared with everything they worked for and compete at a high level. We went two and two in that tournament, coming back from behind when all those things are going to help them in life we achieved this season. Well, we won’t be holding the trophy at the end but nobody will ever forget what we did over these 18 games. We don’t set out to lose but I tell them we play to learn and I think we did that. I am really proud of them.”
About the effort to come back in the final minutes of the game, Hart added, “It’s definitely never say die. We sort of learned that in that tournament when we were down 14-0 we came back and won. We knew we could do it. We have the grit and the toughness. That team has incredible athleticism. We were right up against it quick, but there was no quit on anybody on this team.”
#4 Salpointe Catholic (15-1) moves on the play #2 Eastmark, who beat the Mingus Marauders 14-10 in the other semifinal game. Prescott ends this season at (16-3), and has won 31 of 35 games in their two seasons.
SALPOINTE CATHOLIC LANCERS 31, PRESCOTT BADGERS 18
Score by Quarters- 1 2 3 4 – T
Salpointe Catholic 7 10 7 7 – 31
Prescott 0 0 0 18 – 18
Scoring Summary
SC-Ramos 5 yard pass from Collins (Tkalcevic kick)
SC-Collins 69 yard run (Tkalcevic kick)
SC-Tkalcevic 25 yard Field Goal
SC-Collins 4 yard run (Tkalcevic kick)
P-Maneely 7 yard pass from Aguilar (Run failed)
SC-Collins 15 yard pass interception (Tkalcevic kick)
P-Maneely 15 yard pass from Aguilar (Pass failed)
P-Kitihata 75 yard pass from Aguilar (Pass failed)
