Palmetto secures its first GMAC title in flag football
Just two years after Kevin Mujica successfully pleaded with the administration at Miami Palmetto High School to start a girls’ flag football program, he returned the favor.
Mujica, after 7-3 campaigns his first two seasons, watched his top-seeded Panthers dominate No. 2 seed Homestead, 33-8, in the GMAC championship game at Traz Powell Stadium on Friday night.
While there were no state titles to be won, you would have never known that by watching Palmetto (8-0) celebrate, posing with the trophy and showing off its medals in front of a scoreboard that beamed out the final score.
A championship game that had been dominated by Miami Edison in previous years — the Red Raiders had won five of the seven previous titles, including the last three — now belonged to a Palmetto team making its GMAC title game debut.
“I practically begged for this a couple of years ago, because girls flag was the only program Palmetto did not have,” Mujica said. “When I held that first meeting, close to 80 girls showed up, so I was off to a great start.
“But it’s been a process.
I’ve got a lot of girls who are hard workers and play with relentless effort. They come in day in and day out and grind at practice and push each other to be better. Today was another big steppingstone for us. Just super proud of them.”
Mujica also must have been pleased that he talked basketball player Ashley Alvarado into giving flag a shot; she turned him down two years ago when she was a freshman.
In a semifinal earlier Friday, she caught a game-tying touchdown pass in overtime to help her team survive a big scare with a 13-12 win over
No. 4 Miami Southridge.
Then Alvarado really delivered in the championship game.
With her team already up 6-0 thanks to a 5-yard Ava Alvarez-to-Serenity Simon touchdown pass in the first quarter, Alvarado opened the second quarter by getting a perfect read on a Homestead pass in the left flat. She picked it off and bolted 45 yards untouched to the end zone to make it 13-0.
On the next series, Palmetto’s Camai Moore, who picked off a first-quarter pass that set her team up for the first touchdown drive, got her second interception to give the Panthers the ball at the Homestead 30. One play later, Palmetto executed a perfect double pass from Alvarez to Sami Ames who then found a wide-open Alvarado in the end zone to make it 19-0, a lead the Panthers took into halftime.
“I’ve never read a play more perfectly and never run so fast in my life,” said Alvarado of her pick-six. “I play basketball and do a lot of anticipating, so I think that really helped me to read that pass.
“That was a huge moment because it put us up by two scores and really allowed us to build the early momentum.
“What an experience this has been for me. I love my girls — these girls are my family. I never thought we’d be here but here we are, GMAC champs. It’s all about a team effort around here because there’s no I in team.”
Homestead put together a scoring drive to open the second half with quarterback Jerniyah Fowles finding Jada Taylor for a 17-yard TD. The two-point conversion cut Palmetto’s lead to 19-8.
The Broncos — who also entered the game at 7-0 and
were making their GMAC final debut after an 18-13 win over No. 3 seed Edison in a semifinal — then backed up the Panthers into their own territory and forced a thirdand-long situation.
But there was Alvarado again.
A deep pass headed her way with her surrounded by three Homestead defenders. Alvarado went up high and managed to come down with the ball for a 37-yard gain. Four plays later, Alvarez found Simon again, this time from eight yards out. It was 26-8 early in the fourth quarter and the celebrating started on the Panther sideline.
“I kept pestering her to come put and play flag for us and it’s paid off,” said Mujico of Alvarado. “She’s just a grinder with the heart of a lion. She doesn’t give up, a girl that goes to the wall for
me and does whatever you ask her to do.
“She barely plays offense; these two games today were her first games of playing full-time offense, and that catch she made in the second half was huge because it came at a time where it looked like we were losing the momentum.”
Alvarez wrapped up the scoring in the final minute when she took off on a 25yard quarterback keeper.
The season is still early so plenty of football is left to be played. But the Panthers are hoping their journey will take them all the way to the AdventHealth Training Center in Tampa on May 10-11 where the state semifinals and finals will be held.
“What a feeling — we made history today,” Alvarez said. “Now we want to keep this thing going.”