Jacksonville Fl- A pick-6 by junior Alaysha Williams who then raced 20-yards for the touchdown was all the Commanders needed on Thursday night as Ed White defeated Fletcher 7-0 to win the Duval County Gateway Conference Flag Football Championship. Ed White defeated Stanton 7-6 on Wednesday, and Mandarin 13-0 on Tuesday to advance to the championship. Senior Sh’Niyah Hutchinson would score on the conversion for White, as their defense did the rest shutting out Fletcher.
Said Ed White coach Reuben Dixon of his team, ” we have an extremely young team of mostly sophomores and juniors, but they have stepped up and played big for us this year after losing several seniors last year”. Though they are a young team, their seniors are experienced and talented playmakers. One of them, Tyra Pierce intercepted a Fletcher pass early in the game to set the tone for the Commanders who never looked back.
Big plays by Elyhana Perez-Stevenson, Hutchinson, Williams and Pierce helped hold off a furious comeback buy Fletcher. With less than a minute in the game, Fletcher would drive down the field in hopes of tying the game or going ahead. The Senator’s Katie Rodney would catch a long pass from Jasmine Cross to get their team close to the endzone. However, Tyra Pierce would step up again with an interception to seal it for Ed White.
White’s record under head coach Bachir Saoud is 12-3 this year as they head into the district tournament next week. They’ve navigated an incredibly tough season including wins over Raines, and Baldwin to go with victories over Fletcher, Mandarin, and Stanton. Players like sophomore captain Kyra Jackson, who has passed for over 1,000 yards on the season is a main reason the Commanders are Gateway Conference Champions again. Their second straight, and third in four years.
