Panthers, Longhorns and likely Celebration in next week's regional playoffs
The Gateway Panthers shook off a ride to Tampa and beat the Freedom Patriots for the District 2A-10 title, 28-18, on Thursday. (Photo/Travis James, GHS)
Osceola County has a pair of road-warrior district champion flag football teams.
At Celebration, freshman Ivy Munns threw four touchdown passes as Harmony overcame a slow start and won the District 4A-10 title, 26-13 over the host Storm.
And, in a much longer ride, Gateway traveled to Tampa and knocked off top-seeded Freedom, 28-18, in the 2A-10 final.
The Panthers (13-3) will play, and possibly host, a first-round playoff game Tuesday. As the highest-ranking team in Region 4A-3, Harmony (16-1) will host on Wednesday, and Celebration (13-4) will most likely receive one of four at-large regional berths when the field is announced over the weekend.
Celebration lost for just the fourth time this season, with two of those losses coming to Harmony and a third to Alonso, the No. 1 ranked team in state in all classifications.
Munns threw an interception on her first pass of the game and turned the ball over on downs on the Longhorns second possession. The Storm took advantage when quarterback Isabel Meadows threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Brynn Lyles.
The 6-0 lead was short lived. Munns went 6-for-7 on Harmony’s next possession – hitting Kholoe Cook-Osani for the tying score. Ellah Husbands caught the conversion. With a 7-6 lead, Harmony stayed in control.
After a defensive stop, Munns hit Husbands over the middle. Sensing pressure from the defense, Husbands lateralled the ball to Cook-Osani who covered the last 12 yards for a 13-6 lead.
The Longhorns defense held Celebration to a three-and-out to start the second half and quickly grabbed a 19-6 advantage when Jada Bloodworth cut under a defender on an underthrown ball, tipped it in the air and caught it for a 42-yard touchdown pass.
“That was a sensational play by Jada on a ball I really didn’t want Ivy to throw,” Coach Paul Strauch said. “Celebration had it defended really well and it was only second down, so I really was hoping she (Ivy) would just dump it off underneath.”
“You really don’t think on those plays,” Bloodworth added. “I was on a fly pattern and saw the ball was coming up short, I just jumped as high as I could and tipped it and the next thing I know it was in my hands and I ran it in.”
Meadows’ second touchdown of the pass of the game to Lyles midway through the fourth quarter made it a one-score game at 20-13; but the Longhorns put the game away on the next possession, going 64 yards on five plays with Husbands capping the scoring on a 6-yard touchdown reception.
“This was a total team effort on offense and defense,” Strauch added. “It seems like everyone contributed.”
Those contributions included Brystol Williams, another freshman who had four quarterback sacks. “You seldom hear much about the pass rusher in flag, but Brystol played a huge role tonight.”
Munns finished the game 23-of-35 passing for 264 yards. Cook-Osani had seven receptions for 90 yards and scored twice. Husbands (6-67) and Bloodworth (3-51) had one TD each.
Meadows was 27-for-41 for 232 yards; with Ella Kolaric (8-76) being her favorite target.
