Hawks football wasn’t the only Hart team to play under the Friday night lights at Cougar Stadium.
The Hart girls’ flag football team (8-2, 4-0) defeated the Bears (2-5) 14-6 in walk-off fashion to claim their eighth win of the season.
Late in the fourth quarter tied at 6 apiece, Burroughs’ offense was driving down the field. But the Hawks’ Brooklyn Frattali came away with the interception and brought it back to the endzone for a pick-six.
“That was such a huge play. It looked like we were going to go into overtime,” Hart head coach Josh Masmela said. “But she was able to make that big play and that really kind of just dotted the I and cross the T for us.”
Although Masmela was happy with the win, the game wasn’t all that easy.
Hart’s offense was out of sync the whole game and didn’t really get going until a change of quarterback in the second half.
“Offensively, I think we were a little out of sync,” Masmela said. “Alternating between two quarterbacks within the past couple of weeks due to injuries, I think that kind of got us off sync.”
Shelbie Ratzlaff started the game and played until halftime, then Hannah Cook would relieve her to close out the game.
Despite the switch, Masmela still believes both can offer good matchups for their offense, but he isn’t afraid to put his team first.
“Both quarterbacks have tremendous capabilities to be our starting quarterback for our team,” Masmela said. “It’s just kind of hard to ride some rhythm with whoever is at quarterback because if one’s in, their styles are so much different. But again, as a coach, it’s very reassuring that we have two quarterbacks who are capable of leading our team.”
Once Cook was out on the field, Masmela felt good about his team’s chances and that his quarterback could jumpstart the offense.
Cook completed 12 of 22 passes for 132 yards and threw a touchdown pass to Marley Mehegan.
“She climbed her way back from a mistake,” Masmela said. “I can’t be more proud of how the girls just kind of clawed their way back for the win.”
Another standout performance that left Masmela proud was Mehegan, who caught that touchdown pass from Cook along with four receptions and 65 receiving yards.
“I actually took some time to acknowledge her in front of the team after the game,” Masmela said. “She was going through a little funk the past couple of games, but I believe in her. I always told the players that I’m always going to believe in you, mistakes happen. I’m going to give you every opportunity to prove yourself again. And that that was the game for her. She made some huge plays for us, plays that we needed.”
With the win over Burroughs, Masmela is ready for what the rest of the season has in store and strongly believes a win like this one can help his team in the long run.
“Obviously with the circumstances of the game, playing at COC, Friday Night Lights, the girls were definitely excited about it,” Masmela said. “I’m just trying to help my girls refocus, trying to shift into league again. Tuesday, we have West Ranch, and I think that is one of our bigger league opponents. So, I just told the girls, leading up to that game, that should be on their mind. I think our girls do really well when they’re really focused on a big opponent, so they’re not getting too distracted.”
The Hawks pick up Foothill League action again on Tuesday, hosting West Ranch with kickoff at 6:30 p.m.
