Brandon Rios can hardly be separated from his white binder while patrolling the Fox Chapel flag football team’s sidelines. The coach leading the first-year program likes carrying around a reminder of how things should be designed.
But once the ball is snapped, executing the plan requires artistry. Delaney Drum is always scanning her mind to try and determine what is the proper move to surge forward.
“I find it like a game,” Drum said. “It’s fun because it’s an opportunity. You can run one way, you can run the other way, you can spin, you can turn, you can swivel your hips, you can dip, there are so many possibilities for you to go after. It’s a spur of the moment thing where you have to make the right decision for you.”
The Foxes improved to 7-2 with a 21-20 win over North Catholic on April 15 at home. Fox Chapel trailed 20-7 at the half before rallying.
Drum had an interception and caught several passes against the Trojanettes.
“I’ve never spun, I don’t think,” Drum said. “I’m not good at dipping. It’s bad.”
Josie Franchino caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Isabella Morado on third-and-goal with less than 20 seconds remaining to tie the game. She then scored the one-point conversion to give the Foxes their third straight win.
Franchino made a memorable move for Fox Chapel in the first half. Franchino faked a pass, then juked and sprinted by a defender, who ended up lying on the ground in her wake.
Franchino, who has been playing flag football for several seasons, feels she has mastered how to run with her hands up.
“That’s what I play for,” Franchino said. “I don’t want to have beef with anyone or make fun of them because they are trying their hardest. It’s a great feeling to see your work pay off and get past a defender.”
Rios said using a binder to keep things organized is something he does when he’s teaching. It’s natural he would carry it into coaching.
Throughout the Foxes’ win over North Catholic, Rios was going over plays and formations.
“We built into it,” Rios said. “We can’t do the exotic stuff until we do the basic stuff. The first couple games, we made sure it was basic, how to take a handoff, how to run routes.”
Fox Chapel employed plenty of misdirection against North Catholic. Gia Mort was able to benefit by scoring a pair of touchdowns, one in each half.
“I think that we have had some struggles with some basic plays,” Franchino said. “We have to get creative when we need yards. When things aren’t working, we have to switch it up, hope for the best and see what happens.”
The Foxes were able to adjust against North Catholic and use their creativity to pick up another win.
“I think going into halftime that our mental game was low,” Drum said. “We were playing tired and scared. Our coach gave a good halftime speech to help pump us up and talked about having the right mental game. When we came out and intercepted passes, it added on top of it.”