LYNN — Manning Field was the site of a Classical-English football game Sunday afternoon, but not the boys’ one.
In the annual powderpuff classic between city rivals, the Lady Rams defeated the Lady Bulldogs, 34-18.
Lady Rams head coach Rod Valrie Jr. mentioned his team was “athletic” and “physical.” Well. he was right, running back Kaleigh Bullock bolted for a 45-yard touchdown to start the barrage, followed by another score from Sienna McLean.
In addition to running the ball, McLean showed her versatility by being the team’s kicker, and she made four out of five extra points on her first day of kicking.
“She scored two rushing touchdowns but she hit four out of five PAT’s which was unbelievable,” Valrie Jr. said. “This was her first time doing it too. We started practicing kicking the day of the game too. We came in a little earlier on gameday to work on it and she came through. It was good to have her out there because if it came to it I had faith in being able to kick it if we needed a field goal.”
“Kaleigh Bullock was one of our other running backs. She scored a rushing touchdown and made some nice cuts in the open fields to get extra yards,” Valrie Jr. said.
Classical had a fierce backfield with both Bullock and McLean using their speed and agility to get past the Bulldogs, but that was all made possible by the offensive line according to Valrie Jr.
“They couldn’t stop our run game. That has to do with our offensive line,” Valrie Jr. said. “They did their job in picking up their assignments and blocking up front which gave our running backs time to find the hole and make their cuts.”
One of the girls on the line was center Maura Walsh.
“She had an excellent game as our center. She didn’t have a bad snap in the game and continued Classical’s streak of two years in a row without a single bad snap,” Valrie Jr. said. “Nothing happens on offense without her perfect snaps.”
Walsh was snapping to quarterback Lauren Wilson who mixed her attack between throwing the ball and using her speed to pick up first downs. Wilson showed off her offensive awareness by rushing for two touchdowns.
“Lauren Wilson did an outstanding job running our offense and was very smart with calling out defenders to block,” Valrie Jr. said. “[She was] very smart with finding the open player to pass it to and smart with knowing when to keep the ball and run.”
The Lady Rams weren’t just all offense though, as they held English to just 18 total points.
Two players stuck out according to defensive coordinator and assistant coach Derek Edmonds: Deeasia Man and Yoseivany Rodriguez.
On Man:
“She played a great game. She may have the highest football IQ on the team,” Edmonds said. “She was a huge asset on defense and even in practice she was very supportive and helped her teammates at their position. We could have put her in any position and she would have been great.”
Edmonds also praised Rodriguez for her ability to make plays in the backfield.
“She came in immediately and was vocal. She was a person the team could trust,” Edmonds said. “She’s strong, physical, and determined to learn the game of football. She did an amazing job disrupting the offensive line and making tackles behind the line of scrimmage.”
With the win, Valrie Jr. is 2-0 as Classical’s head coach.
“I can’t be anything other than proud of these girls. They put in a lot of work and they deserve it and earned it,” Valrie Jr. said.
