Flag football has become a popular sport across the country, and one place it is particularly thriving is Yorktown. The two local schools met in a showdown April 28 that saw Yorktown (11-1), ranked No. 6 in Class B in the state, and Lakeland (8-3), which has earned honorable mention accolades.
Two touchdown passes by Sophia Marcello and a strong defensive effort helped Yorktown earn a 12-0 victory at Lakeland.
“It felt good to win,” Marcello said. “Our teamwork paid off, our practices paid off and we just showed that we are a family.”
Marcello connected with Heilee Leonardo on a 10-yard touchdown pass with 24 seconds remaining in the first half, giving Yorktown a 6-0 lead.
“My teammates knew how to set up, they wanted it,” Marcello said. “She (Leonardo) wanted to go to the ball, she wanted to catch it and she had a really good route to get open.”
With 6:33 remaining in the game, Marcello threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Eva Monaco near the pylon, extending Yorktown’s lead to 12-0.
“The best games are rivalry games because of all of the energy,” Monaco said. “The play that I scored on was intended for another player on the opposite side of the field, but once I saw Sophia looking for a different open player, I yelled her name. She spotted me instantly and threw an amazing pass for a touchdown.”
Monaco sealed the victory with a late interception, returning it from the Yorktown 12 to the Lakeland 21-yard line.
“The interception felt great,” Monaco said. “Our defense is amazing and the girls that are part of it for every play are great at keeping everyone in position. I was able to work off of our core defense and together, we were able to predict where Lakeland was trying to throw the ball. I was in the perfect place and grabbed the ball, then ran. As I am primarily a receiver, that was my favorite part.”
For Yorktown, it was its fifth shutout in its last seven games, with its top tacklers entering the game at Lakeland being Sydney Soliz (5.4 tackles per game), Stephanie Douglas (5.3) and Kayleigh Hung (4.7).
Soliz (22 sacks), Hung (15 sacks) and Mia Spiniello (five sacks) lead Yorktown in rushing the passer, while Erin Duffy has a team-high seven interceptions.
“I surround myself with really good people—I have an amazing defensive coordinator, Jeff Cerar, and an assistant coach in John Bronzi, so we work hard at it, the game plan,” said Yorktown coach Mike Rescigno. “Every game matters, like it’s the Super Bowl.”
He added that he had to give “credit to our girls.” Yorktown, he said, has “kids that take a lot of pride in how we play defense, we coach our defense very hard, we love our brand.”
Standing out defensively for Lakeland was Caroline Daly (8 tackles, 4 sacks).
“Caroline is an unbelievable athlete,” said Lakeland coach PJ Nyberg. “Her athleticism and quickness, more so lateral quickness, with the ability to change directions very quickly, allows her to maneuver and get around blocks. Her ability to get around blocks allows her to make those plays in the backfield.”
Caroline Leonard (5 tackles, 5 catches, 55 yards), Jackie Moore (8 tackles), Ava Stabile (5 tackles) and Amelia Calisi (6 tackles, 1 interception) also stood out for Lakeland.
“We played decently well to their strengths,” Nyberg said. “They clearly like to run the ball and get outside and run some rollout, flood type plays and we are pretty good defensively to stop all that stuff. We gave up one, kind of a broken-down play for a touchdown in the middle of the field and we had some bad field position, they were able to take advantage as well. Other than that, we played a really good defensive game.”
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