Ravenwood flag football erases 25-point third-quarter deficit, wins TSSAA championship
· Yahoo Sports
MURFREESBORO − The bar has been set pretty high for future TSSAA girls flag football championship games.
Ravenwood made sure the inaugural Class AA state championship will be a hard one to beat.
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The Raptors scored 27 unanswered points in the second half and came from down 25 to defeat Mt. Juliet 27-25 to capture the state title May 15.
"We never gave up hope," said Ravenwood senior quarterback and championship game MVP Caroline Merville. She was 20-of-28 for 212 yards and three touchdowns while adding 38 yards rushing and a TD. She also had an interception.
"After that first touchdown, we knew we could go out and score three, and that's what we did."
Ravenwood (21-2) won last year's TSSAA invitational tournament championship and has won 20 consecutive elimination games.
"Any time their season could end in a game, they were 19-0 coming into this game," said Ravenwood coach Ricky Rodriguez, who also guided the Raptors football team to a BlueCross Bowl runner-up finish. "That was my message to them. 'Ignore the scoreboard. It starts with getting a first down.'
"Once we got that first score, I felt the swinging momentum. It's a momentum sport. I only had seniors out there on the offensive side of the ball. Those are the girls I'm going to ride with. They've been in these pressure moments before."
Mt. Juliet (20-3) went up 25-0 with 9:01 left in the third quarter when freshman Ryleigh Clayton hauled in her third TD catch of the game, a 20-yard reception.
But Ravenwood didn't panic. It would have been easy for Rodriguez to feel like the run was over.
"Honestly, no, because I have the best flag football player in the state (Merville)," Rodriguez said. "I mean, 80 touchdowns on the year. I just have belief in all of them. They haven't proven me wrong yet."
Ravenwood's comeback started and ended with touchdown passes from Merville to Alexandria Joyce. Merville's 10-yard touchdown run cut the Bears lead to 25-13, but time was ticking.
The Raptors cut it to 25-20 with 3:25 left on an Avery Brown TD catch, and after a three-and-out, Ravenwood took the lead with 51 seconds left on a 20-yard Joyce reception.
"We knew we were going to lose if we didn't score (quickly)," Merville said of the four touchdowns in just a quarter and a half. "I think it was the adrenaline and the mentality ... it's like we have to win or nothing else matters. We know our worth and we know how good we are on the field. When we're executing, it's very, very hard to stop us. And the winning mentality just helps so much."
Clayton had a big game for Mt. Juliet, hauling in seven receptions for 132 yards and three TDs. Addy Osborne was 17-of-29 for 214 yards for the Bears. Joyce finished with eight receptions for 94 yards and two TDs for the Raptors.
Cecil Joyce covers high school sports and MTSU athletics for The Daily News Journal. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @Cecil_Joyce.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TSSAA flag football, Ravenwood rallies vs Mt Juliet to win championship