FLAG FOOTBALL: Hialeah vs. Seminole Ridge Class 2A State Semifinal Preview

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FLAG FOOTBALL CLASS 2A STATE SEMIFINALS PREVIEW

Who: Hialeah vs. Seminole Ridge
What: Class 2A State Semifinal
When: Friday, May 13 at 5:00 pm ET
Where: Jack Peters Field at Robinson High School (Tampa); Address: 6311 S. Lois Ave., Tampa, FL 33616

Tickets: $8.00 per session (all of Friday’s games count as one session)

Parking: $5.00 per car, $50.00 per bus. All proceeds go to Hillsborough County Schools.

Live Webcast: NFHS Network ($9.95 for day pass)

Records: Hialeah, 13-3; Seminole Ridge, 15-0

Looking at the Rankings: Hialeah – Unranked in FloridaHSFootball.com’s Class 2A Flag Football Rankings. Unranked in Joe Pinkos’ Class 2A Power 25 Rankings; Seminole Ridge – Ranked No. 1 in FloridaHSFootball.com’s Class 2A Flag Football Rankings. Ranked No. 1 in Joe Pinkos’ Class 2A Power 25 Rankings.

ABOUT THE HIALEAH LADY THOROUGHBREDS

Head Coach: Denoff Johnson
Years As Head Coach: 1st year

The Lady Thoroughbreds are the newest of the newcomers in the eight teams participating this weekend in the Girls Flag Football State Championships in Tampa, having this been their first season on the field.

However, the Lady Thoroughbreds have shown some grit on the field, proving that they can get through some tough challenges pulling out close wins over Miami Beach (19-12), North Miami (12-8), North Miami Beach (9-0) and Miami Killian (14-13), but also suffer to shutout losses to Monsignor Pace (32-0) and Miami Edison (13-0).

The leader of the offense by far without a doubt is junior QB/S Ja’Kiera Betties. Betties who has scored on a total of 45 touchdowns (23 passing, 22 rushing) so far this season has also accounted for 2,690 of 3,105 yards of total offense through the Regional Finals. Betties is also a major contributor on defense, having collected 16 Interceptions along with 71 flag pulls so far to date.

A favorite target of Betties is WR Brianna Sweeting who has hauled in 77 receptions for 848 yards and 12 touchdowns through the regional finals, but does also have other targets in junior receiver Diamond Celestine (51 receptions, 597 yards, 8 TDs) and senior receiver Jakaria Davis (39 receptions, 365 yards, 2 TDs) which could give the opposing Seminole Ridge defense a fit if not prepared to cover all three receivers.

Coach Talks About His Team
As part of our preview, we reached out to the coaches of each Flag Football team. Here is what Coach Denoff Johnson had to say:

On Ja’Keira Betties: “She is the heart and soul of the team. She’s the QB, the team captain, and the team mom. She is the glue that holds this thing together.”

On Brianna Sweeting: “She’s the energy. While only a freshman, she is the most physically gifted athlete on the team. When she’s having a good game, the rest of the contest is easy.”

On Diamond Celestine: “She is the insurance policy.  If we need a tough catch or score, Diamond is who we look to.”

On Dania Franco: “She is the rock. Not flashy… doesn’t stand out… but is always where she’s supposed to be.”

On the most challenging thing the team has faced this season: “The most challenging thing was definitely trying to field a competitive team a couple of weeks (if that) before the season.  I am also the head coach for the girls basketball team and our post-season carried over into the start of the flag season.”

On the easiest thing the team has faced this season: “I don’t know if anything was particularly easy this season.  Although we went undefeated in our district, most of those games were extremely competitive while we tried to find our identity.”

Would he change anything he has done that has gotten the team to this point?: “I think I would’ve done a little more research on how the experienced teams operate. I played [Monsignor] Pace so that I could have measuring stick of what good teams look like, but I didn’t get out to see any games prior to that one and got completely out-classed. I think we’re a much different team than the one that played Pace, but if we could’ve gone into that game a little less blind it could’ve provided a different level of evaluation for my team, which might have let us grow to higher level.”

What he knows about opponent Seminole Ridge: “I know they are the defended State Champs. I know they haven’t lost a game since 2014. I know that their program is currently the standard bearer for girls flag football is the State and it’s an honor to have the opportunity to compete against them in our Inaugural season.”

ABOUT THE SEMINOLE RIDGE LADY HAWKS

Head Coach: Scott O’Hara
Years As Head Coach: 1st year

Here are some stats for you: Winner of their last 79 of 80 games played on the field, winner of 11 straight district championships and their last loss came two years ago in the state championship game against Robinson.

If you want something else to digest with the stats already thrown at you, consider this: If Seminole Ridge wins on Friday evening, it will be their fifth consecutive appearance in an FHSAA Girls Flag Football state championship game and their sixth appearance out of the last seven state championship games alone.

Take all that and Seminole Ridge is the mothership of all Flag Football teams in the state of Florida and no one has come close this season to putting the brakes on this train called the Lady Hawks – except for one team – and that would be Park Vista.

And if those stats are not impressive enough, how about this: 4,050 yards of offense produced through 15 games so far by the Lady Hawks.

And if that is still not enough to convince you on the statement that the Lady Hawks are the mothership of flag football teams, then consider the fact that during the entire season through the Regional Finals, that they have only surrendered 42 points, while scoring 485 points.

The leader on offense is senior QB Madeline Harding who has completed 231 of 316 passes for 2,545 yards with 52 TDs and has only been intercepted six times in 15 games. Harding’s favorite targets include junior WR/S Yazmin Salguero (105 receptions for 848 yards, 20 TDs) and sophomore WR Ashley Hollandsworth (75 receptions for 721 yards, 9 TDs). Harding is also the teams leading rushing with 498 yards and 7 TDs, but junior WR Kristi Kemper is not far behind with 420 yards rushing and 2 TDs through the regional finals.

Over on the defense, Salguero is the leader with 60 flag pulls and nine interceptions through the regional finals with senior Kaci Sleeth having the next most flag pulls with 48 to go along with four interceptions.

Coach Talks About His Team
As part of our preview, we reached out to the coaches of each Flag Football team. Here is what Coach Scott O’Hara had to say:

On his athletes: “All 15 players make us go and it starts with our quarterback Madeline Harding with 52 passing touchdowns and 7 running touchdowns and our safety, Yazmin Salguero with 9 interceptions on the season. Each player though is key to our success!”

On the most challenging thing the team has faced this season: “Probably just focusing on one game at a time and not getting ahead of ourselves on the schedule.”

On the easiest thing the team has faced this season: “Getting the girls to work hard in practice. These girls love to play football!”

Would he change anything he has done that has gotten the team to this point?: “No, we have approached every practice and game with the attempt to improve every time out.”

What he knows about opponent Hialeah: “Yes, Hialeah is a tremendously athletic, talented, and motivated team and it will be a very difficult game to play them. They are also very well-coached!”

OUR TAKE FOR TOMORROW

This will be the second game of the afternoon for the Girls Flag Football State Championships and with that this one is very interesting to say the least. With Hialeah being one of the newest teams to Flag Football and to reach the state semifinals in year one is impressive. However, to draw Seminole Ridge which by far has been the most dominant of any flag football team in the state is going to present a challenge to the Lady Thoroughbreds. The Lady Hawks have only lost one game in the last 80 games played as we have mentioned, and despite the fact they have had a close in the playoffs, it is hard to see anyone stopping Seminole Ridge en route to another state championship. However, don’t count Hialeah out at all considering they upset a state semifinalist from last year in the Everglades Lady Gators in the Regional Semifinals.