East Lake rallies in District 6

By ERIC MUSKATEVC
Published May 1, 2005

	[Times photo: Bob Croslin]
	Leigh Mantohac pursues Seminole quarterback Jacki Fabrizio in Northeast's 26-7 District 7 win.

EAST LAKE - East Lake beat Palm Harbor U. 20-14 in overtime to reach the region flag football tournament.

East Lake (10-3) battled through 3 Nebraska tie-breakers with Tarpon Springs in a district semifinal and trailed the Hurricanes 6-0 in the first quarter. PHU's Julie Maddalini threw one of her two touchdown passes on the 'Canes' second drive of the game. The point-after play was no good, and PHU led 6-0 at halftime.

Nina Brojan and Allie Burham shared the Eagles quarterbacking duties, but it wasn't before a 50-yard pass in the fourth quarter from Burham to Kelly Coghlan that the Eagles started to move the ball. Burham completed a 10-yard pass to Amanda Wheat and kept the ball for a 5-yard TD run on the next play. Her 1-point pass was good to Tiffany Phandone to give East Lake a 7-6 lead.

With time running out, Maddalini responded with a 30-yard pass to Sami Orme. Brittany Westwood garnered another PHU first down before Maddalini threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Nicole McLaughlin, who caught the ball from her knees. Courtney Whidden caught a two-point pass from Maddalini to go up 14-7 with little time left.

Within the next 10 minutes, Burham completed five passes leading to a touchdown pass to Wheat, and after a controversial call on an overtime touchdown catch for PHU that was overturned, she scrambled 10-yards for a touchdown on the first play of the Eagles' offensive overtime.

ST. PETERSBURG - Kiera Mitchell scored a touchdown early in the second half to open a close game as host Northeast rolled to a 26-7 District 7 victory over Seminole.

Northeast took an early lead in the first quarter when Jessica Bowman connected on a touchdown pass to Nancy Lee to give the Vikings a 6-0 advantage.

Seminole tied it in the second quarter on a 1-yard run by Keidra Harvey. The Warhawks took a 7-6 lead on the extra-point conversion. The lead was shortlived, as Kim Clark had a 45-yard touchdown run to give Northeast the lead for good at 12-7. The Vikings added the extra point and never looked back.

Northeast (11-1) advanced to the final after blasting Largo 54-0 in the first semifinal. Seminole (6-6) deated Clearwater 20-6.

- PHIL GARRIS, Times correspondent

ST. PETERSBURG - Lakewood remained perfect on the season, beating St. Petersburg 27-0 in the District 8 championship game.

In the second half the Spartans took control. Kquanise Byrd caught a TD in the third quarter and two more in the fourth.

St. Petersburg and Gibbs had a 10 a.m start time for their semifinal, which the Green Devils won 19-6. Lakewood defeated Dixie Hollins 26-0 in the 8 a.m. contest. In that game Lakewood QB Sade Brown passed for 210 yards, Byrd had 100 receiving and Innekia Reedy rushed for more than 100.

- ANTHONY SALVEGGI, Times correspondent

[Last modified April 30, 2005, 23:59:18]