Lindsay Ward caught a 62-yard touchdown pass and Cobras tagged on a late touchdown after an interception as Lake Worth Park Vista defeated Harmony, 12-0, in a Class 2A Regional Quarterfinal on Tuesday night.
“Not much went right for us tonight, but the fact of the matter is this game still just came down to two big plays,” Harmony coach Paul Strauch said. “Unfortunately both of them went Park Vistas’ way.”
While neither team could move the ball on their first possession, Harmony created a threat late in the first quarter. Francheska Moreno caught a short pass and turned it into a 30-yard play on a missed tackle. After misfiring on three plays, quarterback Martha Edwards hit Moreno for 12 yards but the play came up short of the line to make and Harmony ended up turning the ball on downs.
Park Vista’s would find the end zone on the next series. QB Makena Gerard sidestepped a pass rush and fired a ball down the right sideline. A Harmony defender just missed knocking the ball out of the air and Ward bobbled it once before catching it and running untouched into the end zone for a 6-0 lead.
Harmony created another chance late in the third quarter when Aubrie White came up with an interception. But six plays later, Edwards was intercepted by Saniya Frazier to end the drive.
The Longhorns would get the ball back by holding on downs, but on their next possession Marissa Veeravagu would intercept Edwards at the 30. WR Daniela Perez would gain 20 yards on a reverse for the Cobras and one play later Emily Quach ran it in with less than two minutes to go for the final margin of victory.
Edwards, a freshman, finished the game 19 of 41 passing for 159 yards and two interceptions. “She wasn’t as sharp tonight, but give Park Vista some credit. They were pretty physical and forced our receivers off their mark all night. Martha also hurt her arm a few weeks ago and was really limited on reps in practice,” Strauch said.
Moreno led all Longhorn receivers with 10 catches for 92 yards.
Harmony’s defense played fairly well. The team came into the game allowing four points a game. In addition to White’s interception, Arianna Ross had a sack and three quarterback pressures. “I thought our defense did a good job tonight. Even on the long touchdown it looked like our defender got a hand on the ball. Ross has been solid for us all year,” Strauch said.
Park Vista, which went to 15-1 on the season, now moves on to the regional semifinals where they will play Martin County (16-1). Harmony’s season comes to an end with a 15-3 record.
“I told our kids after the game that we did not come into this year with a lot of expectations, but they created some expectations for us. This was a fun group to coach and watch grow during the season,” Strauch noted. “We lose five seniors, but we have a great base coming back and a lot of contributors this year where freshmen and sophomores.”
