Graduation is nigh, and the seniors leave campus this week, but the Harmony High flag football team keeps the school year sports season alive with an appearance this weekend in the FHSAA Class 4A state tournament.
Friday, the Longhorns (19-1) will face Lennard High—also the Longhorns—out of Ruskin in a state semifinal at noon at the AdventHealth Training Center in Tampa adjacent to Raymond James Stadium.
Look beyond Lennard’s record (12-7) to know the task won’t be easy. Lennard knocked off Tampa Alonso, the FHSAA’s No. 1 ranked team across all classes, 13-7 in the Region 2 championship. Harmony enters Friday No. 8 in the FHSAA rankings; Lennard is No. 17.
This will be Harmony’s third appearance in the Final Four. They reached the 1A championship game in 2016, losing to Tampa Robinson, 20-0 and were knocked out of the semifinals in 2019 by Dillard, 20-13. Back in 2014, when flag football was a single classification sport, the top eight teams advanced to a state championship tournament in Tallahassee, where the Longhorns lost to Robinson, 46-0, in the quarterfinal round.
Lake Worth Park Vista (18-0), the new state No. 1, and Tocoi Creek (12-7) meet in the other Friday semifinal at 1:30, and the two winners will play Saturday at 2 p.m. for the state championship.
It took a rally for Harmony just to get to Tampa in last week’s regional championship. The (home) Longhorns overcame a 7-0 third quarter deficit to rally past Fort Pierce Central, 15-7.
“So proud of these kids, especially our defense,” Harmony coach Paul Strauch said. “Even on Central’s lone touchdown we were in a position where we should have knocked the ball down. Our defense just played lights out tonight against a team with a really good quarterback and offense.”
The second half belonged to Harmony and its defense. Freshman quarterback Ivy Munns dinked and dunked her teammates down field on a 13play, 65-yard drive capped on a fourth down touchdown pass to Ellah Husbands. The Longhorns missed the extra point and trailed. 7-6.
A defensive stop gave the Longhorns good field position on their next possession, and a 15-yard personal foul moved the ball inside the 10. On fourth=and-goal, Munns hit Cook from nine yards out for the score. Yanielyz Santiago-Torres added the conversion and Harmony led for the first time all game, 13-7.
Central got the ball back with a chance to take the lead but on back-to-back plays, the Longhorns got two outstanding pass defenses from Husbands and sophomore Georgia Werk to force a punt.
Still, the game came down to the final possessions by both teams. With under two minutes to go, Munns kept a Harmony drive alive with a 24-yard completion to Jada Bloodworth on third-and-19 play. A roughing the passer penalty gave Harmony a first down at the 8, but a fourth down pass fell incomplete and Central regained possession on its one-yard line with 1:35 remaining.
With a chance to tie or win the game,, the Cobras were called for an illegal block in the end zone which gave Harmony a safety, a15-7 lead and the ball with less than a minute to go. With no Central timeouts left, Munns took two knees to end the game.
Munns completed 36-of-51 passes for 254 yards, but only three receptions went for more than 10 yards.
“We just used ball control and kept moving the chains, but all the credit goes to my defensive coordinator Drew and the players.” Strauch said. “Drew (Paul’s brother) works so hard at getting our players in the right position to make plays. Central had an outstanding quarterback and defense held them scoreless in the second half.”
