Womens Interhall Football: Walsh qualifies for playoffs with 7-0 victory
By: JUSTIN SHUVER and PAT LEONARD
The Wild Women of Walsh were true to their name as they celebrated on the sideline after defeating Pasquerilla West 7-0 in Thursday's interhall football action.
They had good reason to be excited. The Wild Women will continue on to the playoffs. The Purple Weasels will not.
"All of our touchdowns this year have been important," Walsh captain Alison Troy said. "It was a great play."
The "great play" occurred late in the fourth quarter after Walsh started a drive with good field position on the PW 28-yard line.
Three runs gave Walsh a first down on the PW 20-yard line, and the Wild Women were finally able to break the scoreless tie.
On second down, the Wild Women ran a 20-yard reverse to running back Katie Hesmond that drew almost the entire Purple Weasels defense to the right side, as Hesmond was able to rumble down the left sideline untouched for the touchdown.
Facing a heavy pass rush, quarterback Carrie Campbell was able to complete a pass to Claire Hadley for the point after the touchdown, giving Walsh a 7-0 lead.
The Purple Weasels were unable to score on their answering drive, and were unable to stop the clock from running out as the Wild Women rushed onto the field to celebrate their playoff-clinching win.
"This was definitely a strong defensive game," Troy said. "But our offense has been steadily improving in the past few games as well."
One positive Armstrong and the Purple Weasels can take solace in is the fact that several receivers had excellent days catching the ball by taking advantage of at least three tips by Wild Women defensive backs.
"We've got some athletic girls and they're just sacrificing their body and going up to make that catch," Armstrong said.
His team's best chance to score came near the end of the second half, when the Purple Weasels drove from the PW 21-yard line to the Walsh 3-yard line before turning the ball over on downs.
"We should have scored on that two-minute drive," Armstrong said. "The game should've been ours."
Welsh 18, Badin 0
Lauren "L-Train" Hoeck tossed three touchdown passes, two of them to senior wide receiver and captain Vanessa Lichon, as the Welsh Family Whirlwinds beat the Badin Bullfrogs 18-0 at Stepan fields on Thursday night.
Badin entered the contest with a 3-1 record, coming off a 26-6 win over Pasquerilla East. The Whirlwinds smothered the Bullfrogs' offense and threw the ball at will in their shutout victory. A loss early in the season to Breen-Phillips shocked the defending champion Whirlwinds. Now, however, they see themselves as back on track.
"BP played a zone and confused us a bit," Hoeck said. "But now we practice against man-to-man and zone defenses. We're ready for everything teams throw at us."
Hoeck was ready Thursday. She tossed 30-yard and 40-yard touchdown passes to Lichon and another 18-yard touchdown, collecting 153 yards in the air. The option also worked well for the Welsh offense.
"It's such a different atmosphere [around the team since the Breen Phillips loss]," said Hoeck. "It's fun to play again."
Badin crossed midfield only once the entire game on a long pass to the Whirlwinds' 20-yard line, only to be intercepted the next play.
"We couldn't get the first downs tonight," captain Courtney Giel said. "Our defense played great, but we had a few miscalculations there as well. We lost, of course, but we're not out of it. We're looking forward to our game next Thursday.
The Welsh Family coaches are all business and are pleased with the team's rebound from the previous loss.
"We started the season well then hit some rough spots. There was a little bit of team discord," coach Joe Blaney said. "But we've practiced hard and now we're back to where we should be."
All Sports Stories for Friday, October 4, 2002
