JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Fleming Island flag football team settled the score on Friday.
Mykala Maddox rushed for a pair of touchdowns and threw another as the Golden Eagles made amends with a 20-14 win over Western High School in the Class 2A state semifinals at Mandarin. It was sweet revenge for a 21-point loss to Western in the final four game last year. The Wildcats went on to win the state title.
Now, it’s the Golden Eagles (16-0) heading to play for a championship. Fleming will face Tampa Alonso (22-0) on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Golden Eagles are just the second area team to reach the title game. Mandarin finished as state runner-up in 2013.
The game went down to the wire. With less than 30 seconds to play and facing fourth-and-1 at the Western 20, Maddox veered right on a keeper and stretched past the first down marker to ice it.
Fleming gave up a touchdown on the game’s opening drive, then buttoned up on defense the rest of the way. A Gabi Musa pick in the second quarter went on to set up a short Maddox scoring run to get the Fleming on the board right before halftime. The Golden Eagles struck quickly to open the second half when Musa corralled a deflected pass and then took it into the end zone. She added the point after catch and the Golden Eagles took a 13-7 lead that they wouldn’t surrender.
Maddox also had an interception in the third quarter and added a 2-yard rushing touchdown and point after throw to London Jenkins for a 20-7 lead just a minute into the fourth. Western added a quick scoring response, but couldn’t scratch out a final stop.