By Ken Jackson

Staff Writer

Last year, Harmony went to Dr. Phillips for the District 8 flag football district tournament and brought home the oak trophy for the second time in three years.

Wednesday was the complete opposite, on all accounts.

Harmony dug too deep of a hole in the district championship game Wednesday at Longhorn Field and watched the Panthers celebrate as the Longhorns did in Orlando in 2007 and ‘09. Dr. Phillips took the title, 19-7, and will play in today’s FHSAA Finals first round game at Boone.

Harmony (10-2, both losses coming to DP) saw  Dr. Phillips (14-0) drive nearly the length of the field in the final three minutes of the first half, scoring on a 10-yard pass with 46 seconds left to take a 7-0 lead.

The Panthers then scored on a 50-yard touchdown pass on their first drive of the second half, and on Harmony’s first drive, a bobbled pitch bounced among four players and landed in the hands of a Dr. Phillips defender, who returned it 20 yards to make it 19-0.

The Longhorns did get on the board in the fourth quarter when Kaylee Horn and Payton Leffew hooked up for a 60-yard touchdown pass. Alyssa Miceli added the PAT catch to make it 19-7. Tori Keelean intercepted a pass with 3:40 left in the game, but Harmony’s drive ended near the goal line when Leah Smith couldn’t reach the ball over the line on a fourth-down catch.

HHS Coach Paul Strauch said that the winner of the Horns-Panthers game has won the district each of the years Harmony’s fielded a team.

“We threw one bad pass and had a bad pitch that would happen once in 100 times,” he said. “But, our girls didn’t quit fighting. We had the shot to get within a touchdown, then they’d get the ball back and have to use to the clock, and maybe we get the ball back, then who knows.”

The Longhorns continued their success in flag football as they have qualified for the district tournament (top four in the standings) every year since 2005 and have gone undefeated in Orange Belt Conference play the last two years.

“We outscored our opponents 161-6 in the OBC this year,” Strauch said. “I told the girls to look at what they’ve accomplished instead of hanging their heads.”