Fairview sweeps for 4-0 start; Centennial edges Brentwood in final minute

FRANKLIN – Teams began adding some wrinkles to their offensive deployments heading into the second week of Girls’ Flag Football action in Williamson County, and unbeaten Fairview was no different.

After scoring 25 combined points in two wins during the opening week, the Lady Jackets more than doubled that output in each of their two victories on Sunday, with a 32-14 victory over Brentwood and a 26-20 victory over host Centennial.

Fairview (4-0) rolled out an option attack led by senior Summer Anderson and sophomore Addie Sullivan, who rotated in at quarterback throughout the two games.

“When we run the option with two backs, there’s so many plays out of it,” Fairview coach Chris Hughes said. “We have a slant out of it, a go out of it, a pitch, a keep, we have all this stuff. And Summer did so good – we had it all in, but she was so uncomfortable with it last week, stopping, second-guessing herself. So this week, I said ‘just play, let it come naturally.’ And Centennial not rushing kind of helped, because she could attack them instead of them attacking her.”

Once the Lady Jackets got closer to the end zone, they turned to junior LilyAnn McElroy and senior Alyssa Berg to catch quick passes, as both found the end zone twice in the Brentwood win.

“It’s been really fun,” Berg said. “We added a lot of different options to the option. Our slants are really good and our quarterbacks know where to lead (receivers).”

Anderson also eluded Brentwood defenders for the game’s final score on a long touchdown run and then proceeded to score three more rushing touchdowns against Centennial, all from short range.

“Scoring touchdowns is like the best feeling ever,” Berg said.

Berg also caught another touchdown pass from Anderson that gave Fairview a 20-6 lead with 14:20 left in the contest.

Centennial (1-3) did make things interesting in the second half, as sophomore Kennedy Johnson caught a short touchdown pass from classmate Addison Gorday with 7:34 remaining. Gorday also threw a pair of touchdown passes to Kyleigh Burgett, one in the first half to give Centennial a 6-0 lead early, and another with 15 seconds remaining.

Centennial had time to attempt an onside kick (a fourth-and-15 play that only the trailing team can attempt in the second half), but Anderson broke up the last-gasp attempt and Fairview was able to run out the clock.

Fairview hosted Week 1 games, meaning the players got an hour break between games, but as a visiting team on Sunday, they had to play back-to-back and Hughes said it had an effect in the second game against Centennial.

“You see them laying on the sideline, half of them getting taped up, and I said ‘y’all look like my regular football team,'” Hughes joked afterward. “I think they didn’t realize that they put out so much effort every play, how it taxes them. Just think, right now, we’re blessed with this weather (temperatures in the upper 60s throughout). Next week, it’s going to be 80 degrees and that back-to-back game is going to be tough. I was glad we got to do it so they could see it and adjust to it.”

Centennial’s two-point gamble pays off for first win

Sophomore Brooke Bledsoe caught a two-point conversion pass from Gorday with 27 seconds left as Centennial (1-3) collected its first win with a 28-27 victory over Brentwood in the first game of the day on Sunday.

A short touchdown reception by sophomore Hannah Dilling set up Bledsoe’s go-ahead conversion, shortly after Brentwood senior Emma Majors gave the Lady Bruins a seven-point edge on a touchdown run of her own.

The back-and-forth contest saw both teams keep things close as neither side led by more than seven points at any time during the game.

“These girls have gotten better from last week,” Centennial coach Matt Kriesky said. “If you look at all three of our losses, they’ve been in the last second or we’ve been right there in the game. We’re really proud of what they’re doing, the coaching they’re taking, it’s been fun and we can’t wait for next week.”

Gorday and Brentwood junior Brooke Brummitt traded touchdown runs in the first half as the teams hit halftime tied at 6-6. Things opened up in the second half as Brummitt found junior Cameron Voyles for a Lady Bruin touchdown before Gorday scored another rushing touchdown on the next series to tie things back up at 13.

Sophomore Rylan Harris took an option pitch into the end zone to give Brentwood a 19-13 lead just past the midway point of the second half, but Centennial responded on the next series as senior Kyleigh Burgett caught a deep pass from Gorday at the goal line.

“Offensively, I thought we moved the ball a lot better (than the first week),” Brentwood coach Gabe Evans said. “We’ve just got to find ways to finish once we get inside the red zone. We drove up and down the field, but there were several (possessions) that we just couldn’t capitalize on. Defensively, we changed what we were running and I think it went a lot better, but we’ve just got to get better at flag-pulling.”