Walnut Grove Warriors defeat Lady Jags in first home flag football game
The Cedar Shoals varsity flag football team played their first ever home game at Waters-Wilkins stadium on Oct. 29. History was made but the win was not, losing 19-7 to the Walnut Grove Warriors.
“It is really exciting, to see so many young women take it so seriously, even though it is its first year. And I love that, because I think it’s important that we take women in sports very seriously, and that we celebrate the first of anything,” assistant coach Sarah McCollum said.
The team came out with a positive mindset and ready to play in pink for breast cancer awareness month.
“We went into the locker room with good vibes and tried to come out with the same vibes,” freshman captain quarterback Riley Freeman said.
During the third quarter, the Jags received two flags for illegal contact. As flag football is a non-contact sport, illegal contact is a common and subjective penalty that referees call when they see any pushing and shoving. Despite this, the team tried to stay positive through the challenges that they had to overcome.
“The team had overcome the two flags at the beginning when it was 7-7 so I think that was a game changer. When girls got down, they were scared to touch them,” head coach Shaquille Gatlin said.
The Jags led 7-0 at halftime, with Freeman running 45 yards for the first female touchdown in Waters-Wilkins history. After halftime, the Warriors made a comeback and scored three touchdowns, making the score 7-19. Even though the Jags lost, they still found positives to take away.
“The support and cheering was there from the beginning, that’s one of the positives,” sophomore captain linebacker Daniela Ortiz said.
Not only was the support and cheering positives to take away from the game, but junior corner McKenzie Nuckles stood out to the coaches.
“She really stood out to me because for one, she’s really coachable. Every time a coach is giving her feedback, she’s listening, and then she immediately does her best to put that in action. And even when it was frustrating at times for our defense, she still worked really hard and attacked the ball,” McCollum said.
Moving forward to their next games against East Jackson and Oconee County at East Jackson High School on Nov. 7, there is still work to be done for the team to improve.
“What we can improve moving forward is fixing the mistake we made. Also, winning and losing as a team, and not taking it out on someone,” Ortiz said.
