St. Martin’s title defense will continue in Jackson after another comeback win
St. Martin’s quest for back-to-back state titles will continue in Jackson.
The Yellow Jackets overcame a late second-half deficit to topple Region 9 champion Pascagoula, 13-6, in the first round of the playoffs on Thursday.
Emma Chester found Brianne Sanders on a short touchdown pass with six minutes remaining in the game before converting the go-ahead point-after try with a pass to Dalayzia Mayes.
It’s the second-straight week St. Martin has postponed the end of its season with a late rally after using touchdown in the final minute of last week’s playoff-clinching win against Picayune, despite playing without multiple starters.
“The Picayune game, missing those pieces with that adversity right there, that allowed them to believe that this could happen,” St. Martin coach Charlie Pavlus said after the game.
The Panthers scored early with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Genesis Delgado to Asante Dawson, but were held off the scoreboard the rest of the game.
Pascagoula had an opportunity to respond to St. Martin’s late score, but Yellow Jackets defender Molly Noblitt quickly ended the possession with a diving interception. St. Martin then tacked onto its lead with another short connection between Chester and Sanders.
“It all starts in practice,” Mayes said of her team’s resiliency. “How you come to practice, you bring it to the game and just stay focused and continue to do what you got to do.”
The game was a rematch of a preseason contest where the Panthers scored 20 points in a single half on a St. Martin defense that allowed 20 points total during last season’s run to a state championship in flag football’s pilot season.
And that was the first 10 minutes of live flag football in Pascagoula’s brief history. Pavlus said that match served as an early season wake-up call to the new challenges of an expanded pool of teams and more experience from returning programs.
“I believe that game helped us open our eyes,” Pavlus said. “We’re not the same team from last year. It doesn’t mean we can’t be better, but it really opened their eyes and made them understand that we got a lot of work to do.”
St. Martin advances to a one-day tournament on May 9 at Mississippi College. The Yellow Jackets will be one of eight teams in Jackson vying for a Gold Ball.
They’ll be joined by another Coast team following Monday’s bout between George County and Region 8 champ Biloxi.
Jackson will be a new challenge for St. Martin. The 12 teams that participated in last year’s pilot season all played in the same location each week, so the Yellow Jackets were prepared when bracket play arrived.
Now there are nine regions across the state encompassing more than 40 teams and the Jackets won’t be familiar with any of them.
“We got to stay focused,” Mayes said. “We get to stay strong, positive and stay disciplined.”
