Womens Interhall: Babes put up 20 points in 2nd half for win
By: ERIK POWERS, JUSTIN SHUVER and HEATHER VAN HOEGARDEN
Breen-Phillips defeated Walsh 20-0 on Thursday night, but the game was far from a blowout. In a game that was the tale of two halves, the Babes scored 20 unanswered points in the second half to emerge with the victory.
During a scoreless first half, Walsh outplayed Breen-Phillips but was unable to reach the end zone. The Wild Women kept the Babes off-balance with unorthodox play calling on offense, controlling the clock with a creative series of options, reverses, and quarterback draws.
BP played clutch defense, however, ending one Walsh series with an interception and thwarting another drive with aggressive goal-line defense. The Babes caused the Wild Women to turn the ball over on downs on the BP three-yard line with 36 seconds left in the half.
The Wild Women used a wicked pass rush in the first half to sack Babe quarterback Atasha Potter once and intercept two passes.
In the second half, Walsh stuck with similar offensive play calling but scrapped its blitzing, physical man-to-man coverage for a conservative Cover 2 defense.
BP responded by loading up on the run, holding Walsh to 28 yards rushing in the second half. The Babes also limited the Wild Women to 10 yards passing in the final half. BP defenders Jen Aguirre and Kelly Deckleman each had an interception.
On offense, Potter stood tall in the pocket and used her quick release to spread the ball around the field. Walsh sacked her once in the second half, but Totter eluded the weakened rush consistently.
Totter was 8-for-12 for 110 yards with two touchdowns in the second half and finished 15-for-26 for 190 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. In the second half, Totter rolled out to the right and heaved a 31-yard bomb to Kelly Deckleman, who split two defenders and scored a touchdown.
"Walsh did a good job on defense, especially in the first half," said Deckleman, who finished with two touchdown catches and an interception. "Luckily, we came out strong in the second half, like we usually do, to pull it out. I have to give credit to Walsh."
Lauren Ohlenforest caught the other touchdown pass from Totter. Kelly Landers, playing with a torn rotator cuff, caught a two-point conversion pass on the game's final play.
Welsh 20, Pasquerilla West 7
The Whirlwinds might have taken a page from Tyrone Willingham's playbook as three different players threw touchdown passes in Welsh Family's 20-7 win over Pasquerilla West in Gold League womens interhall football action Thursday night.
The Whirlwinds (3-1) got the scoring going with their own version of the Holiday-to Battle-to-Holiday pass the Irish used against Michigan State.
Starting quarterback Lauren Hoeck pitched the ball right to running back Vanessa Lichon, who found Hoeck open in the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown pass.
Lichon not only scored the touchdown, but also set it up with an interception of Purple Weasels quarterback Leslie Schmidt at the PW 14-yard line on the previous play.
The Whirlwinds added to their advantage just before halftime. This time, the play was remarkably similar to Dillingham-to-Battle.
From the PW 31-yard line, Hoeck completed a short pass to wide receiver Sarah Skrabacz, who juked and wiggled her way around the Purple Weasels' defense to the end zone.
Back-up quarterback Melissa Sands continued the Whirlwinds' potent pass offense, completing all three of her passes in the second half for 37 yards, including a 9-yard touchdown to wide receiver Mary Murphy.
The Purple Weasels (1-2) got on the scoreboard with less than two minutes left in the game, when Schmidt completed a 39-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Heather Van Hoegarden. The conversion pass to Van Hoegarden was also successful, making the final score 20-7.
"It felt good [to score] because we never gave up," Schmidt said. "We know Welsh is a good team. We got off to a slow start, but picked up momentum in the second half. We'll be ready for the next game."
Whirlwinds co-captain Murphy explained the reason for her team's quarterback switch.
"We just have two different quarterbacks," she said. "They're both pretty solid players and it's good to throw [our opponents] off a little bit."
Following a previous loss to Breen-Phillips, Murphy said that the team really needed a good win to get back on track.
"It's a pretty good win for us," she said. "We really picked it up and came together as a team."
Badin 19, Farley 0
It only took Farley's defense two plays to realize what they were up against in Badin's offense. After referring to Badin (2-1) as a "small dorm," Farley saw Badin wide receiver Steph Heath take an out pattern 60 yards and start the Bullfrogs on its way to a 19-0 victory.
Bullfrog quarterback Erin Zachry threw for 160 yards and three touchdowns. Zachry did not take the credit for her team's victory.
"Our receivers ran crisp routes, and the line did a great job blocking," she said.
Despite the team-first attitude, Zachry picked apart the Farley secondary, scrambling and firing to open receivers all over the field. Farley tried to blitz to slow down Zachry, but all of their efforts came up empty.
On defense, the Bullfrogs were led by Jen Carter's three interceptions. Carter, the former varsity soccer player, is playing interhall football for the first time as a junior. This year, Carter has been more than a welcome addition to the Bullfrogs, as she has emerged as a defensive leader already.
"Jen is extremely helpful to our team," Zachry said. "She adds a lot of athleticism to our defense."
Meanwhile, the Finest look to regroup after their third straight loss. In the post-game huddle, the team was upbeat, looking forward to their next game, in hopes of a victory. Quarterback Katie Popik, a freshman, struggled to run an option-like offense against a more experienced and skilled defense.
However, Popik had a positive outlook about the game, and the future of the Finest this season.
"Everything was clicking," she said. "We moved the ball up the field, but we just couldn't get it in the end zone. We will be fine."
Zachry meanwhile walked out with a smile on her face.
"I had a lot of time to throw because of the offensive line tonight, and our receivers just caught the ball," she said.
All Sports Stories for Friday, September 27, 2002
