By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
HILLSBORO, Ore.– The incredible run of the Amity Girls Flag Football team in their inaugural season has ended.
It wasn’t the way that they were hoping for, but they surely set the standard for the program moving forward following their fifth-place finish and facing some tough 6A teams on Saturday at Liberty High School.
“It’s a pretty high-standard. I’m really excited to see what it’s like next year. I’ll definitely going to comeback to a few more games. There’s going to be a little rebuilding to do, but I think there’s some high standards,” said Haley Miersma.
They opened the double-elimination tournament with a 13-8 victory over Gresham. Miersma and Eliza Nisly connected twice in the game to get the Warriors to the 6A/5A/4A/3A/2A/1A State Semi-Final game against Tualatin. A rematch from earlier this season.
The Warriors rallied from a 20-6 deficit entering the fourth quarter to force Overtime against the Timberwolves. But heartbreak happened for the small 3A squad from outside of McMinnville. An interception by the Warriors was called off and moments later Tualatin scored to win the game 26-20 to advance to the State Title Game against South Salem.
But Amity responded to start the third-place game against David Douglas, their third 6A opponent on the day.
The Warriors bolted out to a 12-0 lead by halftime against the Scots. The duo of Miersma and Eliza Nisly scored the two touchdowns with the last connection coming off an Alyssa McMullen interception that set it up.
With fatigue creeping in after a long day of playing, David Douglas began to claw back. They cut the deficit to 12-6 by the start of the fourth quarter and took the lead late into the fourth quarter, leading the Warriors 13-12 with 1:50 left in the game.
Amity wasn’t done though. They immediately went into their two-minute drill and it was working perfectly.
They were getting those chunk plays, converting the spike plays when they needed to and were knocking on the door of the win against the clock, but the Scots were able to hold-off the Warriors late charge to clinch the fifth-place finish.
“I love this team, I love this group. These girls, they go 100-percent all the time. They’re all heart…it’s tough, but I could not have asked for a better group of girls to have for a first season with. I am proud of everything they’ve accomplished. I’m disappointed because I know what they wanted, I can see the hurt on their faces…it’s tough,” said Amity Head Coach Karl McShane of his team.
The Warriors were one of two Small Schools to have competed at the double-elimination tournament on Saturday. The other being Central Christian, a 1A school from Redmond, who finished fourth in the State Tournament. Both schools proved that they belonged and could compete with the biggest schools in the State.
“It is awesome with how these girls have been doing it. With all their sports, they can compete with anybody at any level. It’s such a great athletic group, motors that don’t quit…very cool for them to be here. It’s very cool for them to compete like they did, they took a lot of people by surprise to get to this point,” McShane said.
The Warriors finished the year 12-2 and with a 6A/5A/4A/3A/2A/1A Special District 5 District Title to their names after their first season.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
