Stormin’ wins by sharks and wolverines

(GCFFA): Only one week remains in the regular season play for the Dart Women’s League within the Grand Cayman Flag Football Association, and the top two teams, Domino’s Pizza Wolverines and Hammerheads Lady Sharks will face each other in a ruthless match to see which team emerges in first place for playoffs. Wind, rain, and finally lightening played large roles in last Saturday’s games at the Camana Bay Field, which saw Hammerheads Lady Sharks and Domino’s Pizza Wolverine’s storm through the elements in victory. The Lady Sharks played a close game against Androgroup Killa-Panthers, with an 8-0 win. Top seeded team Wolverines easily defeated Pythons, 20-0, in a game that ended due to lightening, with minutes to spare in the second half.

The Lady Sharks were off to a sluggish start in the first half of the game, with offense making some catches, but for the majority of the time, they were stopped from making it down the field. Quarterback Bobeth O’Garro completed ten of 19 passes, with two interceptions thrown.

Scimone Campbell led the way on offense with three receptions, including catching a crucial pass from O’Garro late in the second half, and spinning her way past Killa-Panthers’ defense to run in a 35yard touchdown. Dionne Anglin caught her sole ball of the game, stretching out to bring in a two-point conversion for the Sharks.

Even with a slight lead, the Sharks proved their defensive ability with great interceptions, tackles and sacks. Lilia Conolly stopped some crucial long plays from Killa-Panthers with three interceptions and two tackles. Bobeth O’Garro showed her versatility, moving to rush the quarterback and coming up with two sacks, as well as two tackles. Serena Yates is a dominant line defender, added four tackles to her game, and stopped many running plays for Killa-Panthers, as did Hong Ngyuen, who also had two tackles. Scimone Campbell covered the backfield with determination, coming up with one interception.

The Androgroup Killa-Panthers are still trying to find their offensive groove; however, their defense keeps the team within points of their opponents. Quarterback Christina Pineda wasn’t able to find her receivers this week, with a season low of seven out of 28 passes completed, and three interceptions thrown.

Lisa Hill-Malice, usually a quarterback for Killa-Panthers, led the offense this week with three receptions. Pineda met Malice for some mid-field passes, which saw the Killa-Panthers move the ball a little down the field. Heather Roffey also had two receptions on offense, followed by Sophia Dilbert and Denise Delpesh each with one.

Roffey also kept her game up on defense with three tackles and two interceptions. Dilbert also had a solid game on defense with five tackles, followed by Natalee Dyke with three. However, despite a tightly played defense, the Killa-Panthers were unable to hold the Lady Sharks from scoring, and for the second week in a row, unable to score themselves.

By the time the day’s second game between Domino’s Pizza Wolverines and the Pythons began, the rain was at a steady downpour. Halfway into the game, despite glimmers of lightening, it wasn’t until a little through the middle of the second half that the stormy conditions and lightening would prevail, ending the game early.
Antoinette Lewis, quarterback for the Wolverines completed eight out of 19 passes, with one interception thrown. Despite the rough weather, her best passes were three long, risky balls thrown andcaught near the end zone.

Benecia Thompson had another great game for Wolverines. The receiver had four catches, including three long passes, two caught in the end zone and one ball ran in from roughly 10yards away. Thompson scored all three of Wolverines’ touchdowns. Shamar Ennis also added to the score with her two-point conversion. Dionne Whittaker and Eleanor Berry each had two receptions on offense as well. The Wolverines’ ability to control the field and hang onto the ball despite battling the elements, was impressive.

Not much action on defense for theWolverines, with Whittaker and Ennis both having two tackles each, followed by Shinette Rhoden and Agueda Broderick with one tackle each. Thompson, forever utilizing her height, caught an interception to add to the team’s defense.

The Pythons nearly drowned in the rain, as their offense was next to non-existent with the weather foiling the team’s running plays.  Quarterback Carrie Barnett had a slippery time completing just one of nine passes, with one interception thrown.

Carla Martin had the sole reception for the Pythons on offense. The few running plays the Pythons attempted with Sheyla Torres were also stopped short by the Wolverines’ defense.

What they lacked in offense, the Pythons tried to make up for in defense. Torres led the way with four sacks to the Wolverines’ quarterback, and one tackle. Carla Martin also contributed with two sacks.  Violet Whittaker-Powell had four tackles and one interception and Barnett had two tackles. Barnett also came within inches of making two interceptions on Wolverines’ player Benecia Thompson, but her slight misjudgment allowed Thompson to make the key touchdown catches.

This coming Saturday, the final week of the regular season in the Dart Women’s League of the GCFFA, sees the Pythons versus Lone-Star Jager Monsters at 10am, followed by the top two teams, Hammerheads Lady Sharks versus Domino’s Pizza Wolverines at 11am. This game was post-poned from a few weeks ago, and speculation is at a high as to who will win and set a precedence going into the playoffs.

A few weeks ago both the Sharks and Wolverines had a bigger roster, but due to school commitments and player injuries, both teams are not at their full player strength. The winner of this Saturday’s game determines the rankings of the top four teams predicted to make the play-offs, which begin 24th September.