Talia Block’s introduction to flag football came courtesy of a camp seven years ago. The interest Block developed from that experience never waned. The Dragons freshman receiver found other leagues to build her skillset.
Block’s versatility shined through during the inaugural City League girls flag football championship game Wednesday night at Cupples Stadium. She caught a touchdown pass and threw another to Amaya Akrie to help the Dragons beat Carrick, 27-0.
“Having a trophy, the first one, it means something,” Block said. “It’s important.”
Following the game, both teams were given a short speech by Steelers fourth-round pick Kaden Wetjen.
Dragons coach Brian Nolte said the win was a nice boost for the program.
“Being the first, it’s always special, and I give so much credit to these girls and to my assistant coaches,” Nolte said. “They’ve done a wonderful job preparing these girls, but I think most important has been the community’s buy-in. From the jump, whenever we said that this is what we were doing, this is what our goal was and these are the expectations, the girls have held that standard.”
Allderdice (11-1) was the top seed and beat Perry in the semifinals earlier in the evening. No. 3 Carrick upset No. 2 Obama Academy, 6-0, to reach the final.
Raiders coach Lord James said he was happy with their turnaround.
“Last year, when we had our team, we didn’t even make the playoffs,” James said. “To turn it around and actually make the championship game was a huge accomplishment. My girls fought hard and all the way to the end. Even though we didn’t get the victory, we were very accomplished.”
The Dragons never let Carrick (9-5-1) get moving on offense. Allderdice’s Shira Levy intercepted a pass in the first quarter to set up the Dragons’ first touchdown.
Taylor Thompson found Block for a 5-yard score with 53 seconds remaining in the first quarter to give Allderdice a lead it wouldn’t lose.
“It feels great,” Block said. “It was like, game over. I knew we won after that.”
Akrie, who caught the Dragons’ second touchdown on a 30-yard pass from Block, said they were prepared to slow down Carrick.
“We studied them and studied how they played,” Akrie said.
Allderdice’s most important sequence came right before halftime. The Dragons stretched their lead to 20-0 following a short touchdown run by Mayonna Easley.
Allderdice then forced another turnover with 20 seconds left in the half. The Dragons capitalized when Levy caught a touchdown pass.
Allderdice was able to lean on its experienced players to help lead the way. Throughout the game, the weather featured wild swings including sunshine, heavy rain and heavy rain with sunshine.
“That was the nail in the coffin right there,” Nolte said. “After that, you could see the entire sideline on the other end was deflated and our girls were on cloud nine. We had enough clouds to deal with.”