Longhorns to play in Tampa next Friday
The story of Thursday's game: Harmony's defense stiffened, leaving Fort Pierce's prolific offense stifled. (Photo/Katie Williams)
Harmony’s flag football team overcame a 7-0 third quarter deficit to rally past Fort Pierce Central, 15-7, and claim the FHSAA Class 4A Region 3 Championship and earn the team’s fourth trip to the state championship Final 4.
The Longhorns, 19-1, will now wait until the final seedings come out to determine who they will play in Next Friday’s semifinals. But if nothing changes from the previous rankings, they will most likely play Ruskin Lennard, who beat No. 1 state ranked Tampa Alonso 13-7 in their regional final, with No. 3 Park Vista (18-0) playing Tocoi Creek in the other semi.
“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.”
It was a defensive struggle from the start, although a couple of questionable calls hurt Harmony. On its first possession, Harmony quarterback Ivy Munns hit Khloe Cook at the goal line but officials ruled Cook had her flag pulled inches before reaching goal line.
The Cobras took a 7-0 lead on their next possession, as quarterback Kailee Grone directed a 9-play, 50-yard drive capped off by Ricklya White’s 15-yard touchdown grab on fourth and goal.
A second controversial call cost the Longhorns a chance to tie before half. They moved down to the red zone, only to have Ellah Husbands ruled just short of the goal line on a fourth down running play from inside the 1-yard line. Harmony coaches argued with the officials that it should have been next to impossible that Husband’s flag was pulled as she reached over the goal line because of the one-yard neutral zone.
But the second half belonged to Harmony and its defense. Munns dinked and dunked her teammates down field on a 13-play, 65-yard drive capped on a fourth down touchdown pass to Husbands. The touchdown was only made possible after defensive back Karla Timothy dropped a sure interception in the end zone a play later. 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 a 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.
Although the offense did enough to win the game, Strauch left no doubt that it was the Longhorn defense deserved the credit for the win. Central’s Erin Boyd and Karla Timothy came into the contest with 125 receptions for 2,020 combined receiving yards and 22 touchdowns, but were held to 33 receiving yards and no scores on four catches, Quarterback Kailee Grone, who had 3,500 yards of total offense and 45 combined touchdowns, was limited to 163 yards and one score. For Harmony, Munns – a freshman – 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.”
This will be Harmony’s third appearance in the Final Four. They reached the 1A championship game in 2016, losing to 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.
