Story by Near Post Sports
A pair of touchdown passes and a LOT of defense powered the Lady Raiders’ flag football team Thursday past the Gulf Breeze Dolphins, 13-0. With 1:15 left in the first half, Raider quarterback Tailor Ernst hit Madison Simmons in the end zone for a four-yard touchdown. Both teams clamped down on defense. There were more than a handful of interceptions in the game. Olivia Warren came up with two drive-stopping picks — one in each half.
“The coaches said ‘don’t keep backing up, stay closer,’ because she was going for the short passes. It was pretty easy to read them, because they telegraph where they go,” said the senior linebacker. “We came out with a lot of aggression, because we wanted to win on senior night.”
Gulf Breeze programmed their defense to negate Navarre’s biggest offensive threat.“We knew they were going to up it up. We knew they want to go to number 24 (Rachel Leggett), so our game plan was ‘don’t let number 24 beat us,” said Jonny Cook, Dolphin head coach. “They just made a few more plays than we did.”
One of those plays including Navarre holding the Dolphins to a four-and-out drive, taking over on the 24-yard line with 1:51 remaining in regulation. That 56-yard drive ended with a 24-yard strike from Ernst to a streaking Mackenzie England for an insurance score. The quarterback connected again with England for the point-after.
England was quick to give credit to Ernst’s distributing the ball to different receivers.“She looked for the open option, and she knew where to throw the ball,” the senior receiver said.
This was the Raiders’ third shut-out of the season. “Our defense played incredible. I love the way they fly around. They made all the plays,” said Raider coach Sean Tomey. “Offensively, Mackenzie had a really good game, but we’ve got to find a way to put the ball.”
Navarre (8-2) secured a number three seed for the 2A District 1 playoffs behind Niceville and Chiles. Now they wait to face Pace, slated for April 19 in Russell Stadium.
The Dolphins (4-4) secured a #2 seed for the playoffs in 1A D1, and they are still scheduled to play their first-round game at home Tuesday against Fort Walton Beach.
All photos by Stu Camp
