Mustang "fillies" tackle the football world

At my high school, we called it Powderpuff.

Lakewood Ranch High School calls it Filly Football. Whatever you call it, it’s one of my favorite high school traditions, because there is only one thing at stake.

Pride.

The event pits girls representing all four grade levels against each other in a flag football tournament to see which reigns supreme. Players from the boys football team coach the girls in their same grade level.

At my high school, the boys would take care of the pom pom duties for the game, but that didn’t happen here.  

I decided to infiltrate Lakewood Ranch's junior team to find out what the Filly Football experience was about from beginning to end. They appeared to be taking the games seriously despite the inherent lightheartedness surrounding the event, which I respected.

One of the coaches for the junior team was Mickey Koczersut, son of Lakewood Ranch head football coach Mick Koczersut. I asked Mickey Koczersut if he tried to glean any coaching tips from his dad before the game.

“Not really,” Mickey Koczersut said.

Well, that settles that.

Koczersut and other student/coaches, including Alex Dietz, Jack Hudson and Joey Sirignano, said they were trying to teach the girls football basics like how to properly throw a football to create a spiral and catching the ball away from your body. Two players, Nadia Cincotta and Karen Kay Lyvers, impressed them with their speed.

Teams only had two total hours of practice time, so preparations had to be made in haste. The junior team’s playbook consisted of five set plays, most of them being sweeps and reverses.

Ally Boudreau said she believed her team’s greatest strength to be “speed and mental quickness,” and added that the team’s defense looked really good in practice.

Cincotta, Tommilyn Tharpe and Noelle Kourakos said they want the world to know that not only boys can play football.

I don’t think the whole world was watching the tournament, but the trio did make their point. There was some impressive athleticism on display during the tournament.

In the junior team’s first game, against the sophomores, all signs seemed to be pointing toward a cake walk. Junior Kay Lyvers was an unstoppable force with the ball in her hands. Nothing but speed was necessary. Defenders were left grasping at air.

After the juniors took an early lead, adversity struck.

Kay Lyvers took a handoff up the left side of the field and into the end zone. After she crossed the line, she fell to the ground, and stayed there.

She suffered cramping in her left leg. The injury hit midway through her run, but she refused to give in to the pain.

After scoring the touchdown, though, Kay Lyvers had to do some thinking. While she was walking off the injury, she considered her role with the girls track and field team and decide playing more offense probably wouldn't be the smartest decision. She still played defense, though, and once even received a stern reprimand from the officials for tackling instead of just pulling the flags.

She would have been my game MVP.

Unfortunately, the juniors lost much of their offensive firepower. Although they survived to beat the sophomores, they weren't so fortunate against the seniors in the championship game.

Before the title game, the juniors practiced plays, or tried to, at least. There were lots of coaches with different ideas of what needed to be done, and they all pushed their own ideas. I understand that impulse, but it ultimately may have been their downfall. Abigail Zion agreed. She told me the most challenging part of the experience was sorting through all the different things coaches would tell her. Boys.

The championship game was a defensive struggle. The seniors got on the board first when the juniors called a reverse in their own end zone, pretty much handing the seniors a safety.

The juniors would eventually score and add a two-point conversion with about six minutes to go, but the seniors put together a masterful, methodical scoring drive of their own to tie the game. A 1-point conversion gave the 12th graders the lead with just over a minute to go.

Forced to pass, the juniors had nothing. A quick turnover on downs ended the juniors’ hopes of an upset.

Some juniors walked off the field laughing with friends. Others looked genuinely frustrated by the loss.

“Offseason workouts start tomorrow!” juniors head coach Noah Ben-Ghuzzi told his team as they turned in their flags.

Yeah, right.

He was kidding, but I don’t think anyone would complain if the team got together once in a while to practice for next year’s tournament. They will be the seniors then, and they will have one last chance to show the rest of the school who’s boss.

In the aftermath, the junior said they had a great time despite the loss. Not to get too sugary sweet, but that’s what really matters in events like Filly Football.