After narrowly missing state title last year, Western flag football seeks redemption
The goal was established as soon as last season ended.
“We will be back to state next year,” Davie Western flag football coach James O’Brien said. “I’m confident we’ll be back.”
The Wildcats came one point shy of winning the Class 2A state title, falling 20-19 to Lithia Newsome in Jacksonville for its only loss of the season. As such, Western missed out on its bid to be just the third school in Broward County to win a flag football state title since the FHSAA began sanctioning the sport in 2003. Fort Lauderdale won the inaugural title in 2003 and Miramar followed with a state title of its own in 2006.
(Miami-Dade has yet to have a school win a state flag football title, although Edison finished as Class 1A state runner-up in 2018.)
The good news for O’Brien’s Wildcats: His roster is still loaded and remains well-poised to make another state title run.
Western returns a senior-heavy roster that features 11 of 14 starters from last season’s team.
It all starts with senior quarterback Sydney Ford, the reigning Miami Herald Broward Flag Football Player of the Year. She threw for 3,783 yards and 60 touchdowns in last season’s run to the state title game.
Two of Ford’s top receivers in Sydney Hoover and Jordan Fine have graduated, but veteran pass-catchers in fellow seniors Veronica McBride (47 receptions, 864 yards, 14 touchdowns) and Sydney Brennan (75 receptions, 580 yards, nine touchdowns) are back. Senior Ayisha Scott (33 receptions, six touchdowns) and sophomore Tamara Elliott (790 total yards, 11 total touchdowns) provide valuable third and fourth options in the offense.
But Western’s defense was as efficient as its offense, posting 11 shutouts and holding five other teams to just six points.
Senior rusher Naiya Rampat looks to build on her 13-sack 2021 season, while senior linebacker Lian Scott (61 flag pulls) and sophomore defensive backs Keylee Allen and Nandi Ramessar (18 combined interceptions) anchor Western’s secondary.
And Western is challenging itself during the regular season. The Wildcats have regular-season games against five teams that played in the state series in 2021: Edison, Pembroke Pines Charter, Dillard, Dr. Krop and Boca Raton Spanish River.
This and that
▪ Edison advanced the farthest in the state series last season among Dade schools, reaching the Class 1A state semifinal before losing to eventual state champion Tampa Robinson.
▪ Miami Palmetto, under first-year coach Kevin Mujica, is led by multi-sport athletes Tara Llorente, Aisha Bess and Adrianna Gilmore.
▪ Ferguson, which reached the Class 2A regional finals last year, features a senior-heavy roster led by 2021 first-team All-County quarterback Yanize Montgomery.
▪ Homestead went 8-3 last year while playing as an independent but is competing in Class 2A this season. The Broncos have just two seniors — Shamaya Williams and Delexis McCall — and are looking to play with a faster defense.
▪ Mater Academy is in a rebuilding year after graduating 13 seniors, including six starters. Junior Daniella Flores and seniors Shanel Hernandez, Ericka Yglesias and Kelly Luna will lead the way.
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