Jacksonville- Seven rings isn’t just a song made famous by Ariana Grande, it is also the number of flag football championship rings the Mandarin Mustangs now have as they celebrate a victory over Stanton Prep in the Gateway Conference Championship. The Mustangs were able to hold it all together and beat the Blue Devils 18-7.
The game went back and forth for the majority of the first quarter, each team not really making it into the other teams territory, but that changed a little over half way into the first when Olivia Altman cut through the middle untouched to score an easy touchdown. The Lady Blue Devils were able to stop the extra point, but the writing appeared to be on the wall as the Lady Mustangs were attacking the secondary with ease to move the ball down the field.
The second quarter started off great for the Lady Blue Devils as they were able to get a quick three and out against the Lady Mustangs. The Lady Blue Devils were able to move the ball down field, and it was punctuated with a stellar catch by Connor Kuhn. However Kuhn was stopped short of the goal line by the Lady Mustangs to stop the score. As the half was coming to a close, a fly route down the right sideline was caught by Logan Gonzalez as she split two defenders and shook another for a first down.
The play put them in scoring position as the half came to a close. Mandarin tried three deep balls before Gonzalez was able to score on a post route. It was a beautiful design as the other Mandarin receiver was able to throw the safety off by running an inside route. At the end of the half the score was 12-0 after another extra point throw was unsuccessful.
The Lady Mustangs came out of the half confident as a two touchdown lead seemed like enough since the Lady Blue Devils were not able to get their offense up and running. Mandarin threw two deep balls to throw the defense off and tried to then throw a short route for the first down, but that was intercepted by Leslie Lerch and taken back for a touchdown.
Unfortunately for Stanton, the interception was called back for a flag guarding penalty shortly after her interception. The Lady Blue Devils kept trying to run motion offenses to throw the Lady Mustangs defense off of their trail, but much to no avail. It would take defense, and Stanton got just that with another big interception by Lerch that she scored on this time with no penalty flags. The extra point was good and now the Lady Mustangs lead was cut to five at the end of the third quarter.
The game got intense in this quarter going back and forth with interceptions from Kristen Norton on the Lady Blue Devils side and Ty Cox from the Lady Mustangs but the score wasn’t moving, both teams defense held their ground until Altman was able to get wide open down the field to score the last touchdown of the night as the game came to a close.
Both teams now turn their attention to the playoffs as the Lady Mustangs 2A District 1 Tournament at home. Mandarin will host Robert E. Lee in the 4pm game today. Stanton will take on Paxon at Terry Parker on Wednesday to start their district play.
