Flag Girls Fly High

Qyntyn Pilcher, Reporter

There was a lot of competition in this years Division 1 flag football season, and the Lady Eagles were at the top with the best of them. The Lady Eagles started off their first four holding their opponent scoreless. But that was just one of many achievements in a hard fought and successful season. The Eagles finished the regular season 14-0.

Not only did the Eagles finish the season undefeated, they also outscored their opponents 339-102. 133 of the 339 points came from the first four games of them holding their opponents scoreless.

The Lady Eagles finished with a total of 11 girls on the All-Conference team. Six players finished on the first team, while the remaining five finished on the second team. However within those 11, three of the Lady Eagles were rewarded with player of the year awards.  Quarterback Rebecca Syrup was awarded co-offensive player of the year, along with her teammate running back Isabella Roberts. Winning Defensive player of the year was Sr. linebacker Maya Baquiran.

But the ladies were more than just a flag team, they considered themselves family. Rebecca Syrup who has been a varsity starter for three years said, “It means a lot for me to be on this team, and the girls were my first friends in high school and I’m happy to be graduating with them.”

Wonder why they play so well together? The ladies would have team bonding before every game and sometimes after practice. “My favorite thing about the girls this year, was how we bonded…We would play just dance or go to a football game…There was a lot less groups on the team this year because we were all one,” said Syrup.

Not only does Syrup recognize her teammates for being united but she also recognizes Coach Cantrell for being more than just a coach towards the girls. “I like that [Cantrell] makes a bond between us and him, he yells a lot but he means well, and is a very good coach. He can be impatient at time but he’s a great coach.”

Coach Cantrell actually nominated Syrup as a candidate for the offensive player of the year award. This was her second year in a row winning the award. Syrup said, “It meant a lot to win the award for the second year, I would’ve rather win a championship both years but it still means a lot that Cantrell recognizes me like that and the rest of the coaches in the CIC.

After high school Syrup plans to work for a scholarship in softball to attend the military academy West Point, and if that doesn’t work out she hopes to get a scholarship for softball at another school.

Senior Linebacker Maya Baquiran not only won an award for defensive player of the year, but she also exceeded her amount of tackles from last year by 19 pulls. “I came into the season with a goal of beating my amount of pulls last season, I knew it would be tough but I was able to.” Last year Baquiran, like Syrup, was defensive player of the year last year too. Baquiran also said, “It would’ve been nice to get DPOY and a ring but unfortunately that didn’t happen.” The Eagles faced some adversity throughout the season, and one of those moments was when Baquiran went down with an arm injury. Fortunately she was able to return with a cast, and finish the rest of the season with her teammates.

Isabella Roberts was a headache offensively and defensively for teams as she was awarded 1st team all conference for both sides of the ball. Roberts was known for her fast and quick ability to get around defenders. “Being on both 1st and 2nd team is really cool, I’m glad I got to share the spotlight with my teammates.”

“Being awarded offensive player of the year is cool but, I just love the bond that the team made this year, there was no selfishness and we all felt like a family,” Roberts added.