BY DAN GLICKMAN
Two times before Tuesday, Section V had given out Class A titles in Flag Football. Both times, the Penfield Patriots had come out on top.
On Tuesday, Penfield (9-3) made it three in a row, defeating Fairport 32-20 behind three touchdown passes from Sophia Puccia. The opposing Red Raiders (8-5) kept pace with the Patriots through the first half, but a quick score for Penfield early in the second half, followed by costly turnovers from Fairport, sealed the game.
The victory was Penfield’s second win over Fairport this year, after a 41-0 victory during the regular season.
The first half was a largely back-and-forth affair. Fairport opened the game with the ball and started to move downfield, but a series of penalties stalled their advance before Penfield 9th grader Hadley Schrouder intercepted a pass. Penfield then began a drive of its own that culminated when Emma Garrigan, coming off a three-touchdown game in the semis, got by two defenders and received the pass from Sophia Puccia before waltzing in for the opening score. Molly Brown came in with the one-point conversion to give the Patriots the early 7-0 lead.
Fairport responded, advancing to past midfield, but soon faced fourth down. An attempt by Ava Vassallo came up short on fourth down, but a penalty on Penfield gave them an extra life and a first down. The additional opportunity proved fruitful, as two plays later, Vassallo found Natalie Panara to score. A conversion from Anna Ralston tied it 7-7.
The Patriots soon regained the lead, moving down the field quickly before a touchdown pass from Puccia to Olivia Solomon, which was followed by a Molly Brown conversion, increasing the score to 14-7.
Vassallo and Fairport again responded with another drive. After a deep throw to McIntyre, Vassallo found Panara once again to narrow the score to 14-13 with 6:02 left in the first half. The conversion failed, however, leaving Penfield ahead.
It appeared that Penfield might get stopped on the next drive, with Fairport forcing a goal-line stand. Puccia again found the end zone, however, throwing another touchdown, this time to Meghan Quigley. The Red Raiders prevented further damage, though, as Julia McNulty intercepted Puccia on the conversion play to keep it a one-score game, 20-13, going into halftime.
The second half began with a Penfield drive that ended in another touchdown pass, this time to Molly Brown, increasing the lead to 26-13 less than three minutes into the half. The game then turned permanently in Penfield’s favor during the following Fairport drive, as Penfield’s Gianna Ciavarri ended a Fairport effort with a pickoff just ahead of the endzone that she brought back for a touchdown to make it a 19-point game, 32-13.
Although Vassallo later ran in to cut Penfield’s lead to 32-19 and then hit McIntyre to make it 32-20 with 12:27 remaining before Fairport forced a turnover on downs with 8:52 left, the Red Raiders were never able to score again, with a would-be drive of their dying on downs with just under 4 minutes left to snuff out a comeback attempt. A late first down for Penfield off a Fairport penalty finished any remaining hope for the Red Raiders.
Puccia finished the game going 16-for-20 with 196 passing yards to go with her three passing touchdowns. Mikayla Mrzykwa made five catches for 60 yards and also threw a touchdown pass. Brown ended her day with 152 yards from scrimmage and touchdown.
The win sends Penfield to the state tournament, where they will open play against the Section VI champions on May 31 at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park. Section VI’s champion- either 14-2 Kenmore or 11-2 Orchard Park- will be determined on Wednesday.
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