By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
BIRMINGHAM – Fans, faculty and students all filed into Birmingham’s Protective Stadium on Wednesday morning at 11:00 to cheer on the Moody Blue Devils in the first-ever 1A-5A girls flag football state championship.
Emma Kile awaits the snap as Serenity Rutledge looks on.
Credit: Johnny Sanders
The Lady Blue Devils took on the Montgomery Catholic Knights for the blue map and, despite scoring the first points of the game in the middle of the second quarter, fell 14-7.
The Moody defense played well, picking off passes in two of Montgomery Catholic’s drives in the first half and snagging another in the third quarter. However, the offense could not get things going until the 7:20 mark of the second, when Emma Kile hit Sophie White for a 56-yard bomb to put the Lady Blue Devils on top 7-0.
The Knights would score at the 2:45 mark of the second on an 11-yard pass from Hayden Fitts to Lily Abbot to tie it up before the half.
The two teams traded punts for the entire third quarter and the game stayed knotted up until later in the fourth.
Moody could not convert on a fourth down and the Knights took advantage of a short field, putting up the final touchdown and leaving Moody with just over 3 minutes to go in the game.
Inside the two-minute mark, the Lady Blue Devils converted a fourth and long to stay alive, but a dropped ball on the next fourth down would seal the deal and give the Knights the 14-7 victory and the state championship.
“I told these girls; I woke up with a lot of excitement and tears from how happy I am that they get to represent Moody across their chest, said Wren Moore, Moody’s coach. “I told them that no matter the outcome, we will wake up and glorify the Lord and we will go to sleep and glorify the Lord. I believe everything happens for a reason and I they will look later on in life and see this as a lesson for them. I am glad they got to experience what this stage can bring to them and girls all across the state.”
Senior quarterback Emma Kile said, “It is a surreal feeling. As a senior, I am just glad I got to compete with them and hopefully push them to get into the same position next year. Hopefully they will win it all. I am just glad we got here so they can remember this for next year. Serenity is our second-string quarterback and I feel like they can go even further next year.”
Sophomore receiver Serenity Rutledge said, “It is just a great feeling, like Emma said. We are very competitive, so there are a lot of emotions from that. We were here. We had it. We just couldn’t execute it.”
The Lady Blue Devils, after not having a team last year, finished the season 16-3.
