FLAG FOOTBALL: Brew Tech greets new LAMP team rudely in Tigers' program opener
LAMP quarterback Chloe Thomas has her flag pulled by Brew Tech’s Sydni Williams in the game on Tuesday at LAMP School. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
LAMP’s flag football team made its debut on Tuesday in a home game, losing to magnet rival Brew Tech 35-0 in a game dominated by the Rams.
The outcome wasn’t that surprising. Brew Tech made its debut a year ago and came on strong at the end of the year, reaching the 1A-5A quarterfinals before losing to Satsuma.
“The good thing about that is, they’re probably going to have one of the largest jumps by the end of the year,” Brew Tech coach Kevin Tarver said. “That’s kind of what happened with us. In our first game (in 2023), we struggled against BTW-Tuskegee (losing by three touchdowns) and when we played them about three weeks later, we ended up winning. They’re going to have a pretty large jump and it’ll be interesting to see where they’re at this time next year.”
LAMP has just 11 players on its roster, meaning the Golden Tigers went through two weeks of preseason practice with seven players practicing against four on the other side of the ball, so Tuesday’s game was their first real look at the sport at game speed.
“Just learning, we’ve all got a lot of that to do,” LAMP coach Michael Thornton said. “I was really pleased that they (the players) are super positive. That’s a very tough opponent and we got better throughout the game. This is our first opportunity to play against a defense that had seven people on it, so that gave us some issues, not to mention they’re extremely athletic. I thought we did a really good job of doing our best to execute each play. Lots of bright moments, lots of things to build on.”
Brew Tech took the opening possession 66 yards to the end zone in just four plays as quarterback Tessa Wilburn threw short passes to Jaquayla Jarrett and Kyra Wallace that turned into gains of 27 and 29 yards, respectively. Jarrett then ran six yards and Wilburn threw to a wide-open Heleyna Pennic for the touchdown and to Jarrett for the conversion and a 7-0 lead.
LAMP’s first three possessions, meanwhile, ended with an interception, three plays and a punt and three plays and another punt before finally picking up its lone first down of the first half on a 23-yard pass from Chloe Thomas to Ellie Callahan.
The Golden Tigers’ defense stiffened somewhat after the first possession, but the Rams scored on a deflected pass from Ariyanna Simon that teammate Taliyah July grabbed out of the air in the end zone and another pass play where Jarrett took a lateral from teammate Kyra Wallace the final 15 yards for a 21-0 halftime lead.
A pair of second-half interceptions gave the Rams the ball in LAMP territory to set up quick scores, with Jarrett weaving through the Tiger defense for 18 yards on the sixth play of the second half and backup quarterback Jaila Griffin’s 4-yard pass to July for a 35-0 lead two plays into the fourth quarter.
LAMP managed just two first downs and 32 total yards. Thomas completed 1-of-10 passes for 23 yards, but was intercepted three times. Defensively, Chelsye Leach-Peck had five tackles and Lainey Clements had one tackle and three pass breakups.
“Our quarterback is very talented,” Thornton said. “Learning to make those reads (on passes) is something that comes with time. It’s harder going 7-on-7 than it is 7-on-4, which is all we’ve been able to emulate in practice. Figuring that out throughout the course of the season is going to be one of her challenges, but I trust her.
“Part of taking pressure off of her is establishing a running game, which we had a hard time doing in the first half. We improved throughout the game and hopefully we’ll be able to get that going, too. That’ll give her more time. When she made her legs a threat in the second half, it really changed a lot of what they could do defensively, so hopefully we can build on that.”
Brew Tech had six first downs and 172 yards, gaining 71 yards on eight rushing attempts. Wilburn completed 6 of 17 passes for 97 yards and three touchdowns.
“The girls got to play some positions they’re not normally accustomed to playing today,” Tarver said. “But more importantly, everybody got to play today. That’s a good thing. We’ve still got some kinks to work out, so we’ll work on that tomorrow in practice.”
The Rams have outscored their first two opponents 63-0 after beating Wilcox Central last week.
“Credit to my DC, Jaquin Patterson,” Tarver said. “The defense is lights out right now.”
Brew Tech (2-0) travels to Marion for a game with Frances Marion on Thursday, while LAMP (0-1) travels to Catholic next Tuesday for the 1A-5A Region 4 opener.