Passion, George win in their season finale
Pittsburgh uses quarterback’s versatility to roll past DC Divas
Alyssa George doesn’t really know if she’s a running quarterback who throws or a throwing quarterback who runs.
Nor does she care. “I’m versatile. I can do it all,” George said. “Anything the team needs me to do, I can do it.”
Her multifaceted abilities certainly came into play for the Passion signal caller in the team’s final regular-season game.
George completed 10 of 15 for 142 yards and a pair of touchdowns and also carried nine times for 40 and another score to lead the Passion (4-2) to a 36-12 victory against the DC Divas (2-4) at West Allegheny High School’s Joe P. DeMichela Stadium.
“We watched a lot of film this week and tried to expose their looks and coverages,” co-head coach/offensive coordinator Lisa Horton said. “We really tried spread the field and attack them with the run and open it up with our passes.”
With the offense opening at peak efficiency, George had plenty of options and utilized her weapons to perfection. Running back Marceline Chavez made an impact on both sides of the ball as she ran for 10 yards, caught three passes for 72 yards and a score, threw a touchdown pass on an option and closed out the win with an interception.
“I just love to play football. I don’t care where I play or what position I play,” Chavez said. “Anytime I have an opportunity, I leave it all on the field every single play.”
With the win the Passion locked up the No. 3 spot in the WFA Pro National Division and will travel to Tampa to play the Inferno when the postseason opens the weekend of June 11-12.
“I came from Tampa, so that is going to be a big game for me,” Chavez said. “I would say the key is to keep working hard and I see we are.”
It wasn’t just that the Passion were able to dominate on the offensive side of the ball. The defense came up with five interceptions of DC quarterbacks Amanda Congialdi and Jennell Thomas, including two from linebacker Hannah Daman.
“In the previous game we played them, we got burned on pass plays where we hadn’t played all the way to the whistle,” Daman said. “We really focused on that, if the quarterback rolled out, we all stayed at home so, when she throws it, we were where we’re supposed to be.”
It didn’t hurt the defense that the Passion rolled up 297 yards of offense and held the lead throughout the game. And it didn’t take long for them to put their stamp on the game as George found Jana Meister alone in the back of the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown that, with the 2-point conversion pass from George to Meister, put the Passion in front, 8-0, just 2:01 into the game.
DC struggled with critical mistakes throughout the first half and it showed on the first drive. On thirdand-10 from her own 37, Congialdi threw into traffic and was picked off by Jasmin Jones, who put the Passion in business at the Divas 30.
This time it took five plays, but George converted again, this time running it in on a fourth-and-goal from the DC 5, before she sauntered in with the 2point conversion to put the Passion on top, 16-0, 5:18 into the game.
But nothing hit the Divas harder than what happened when they got the ball a few seconds into the second quarter.
Following a Passion punt, DC took over on its 12 and methodically marched the ball down the field. The Divas converted two third downs and a fourth down and, after Congialdi connected with Lexie Floor, they had a first-and-goal at the Passion 3.
DC had a run for a 1-yard loss, an illegal procedure penalty, a sack by Kaitlain Niedermeyer and a pair of incompletions.
Instead of a score to get the Divas back into the game heading into the locker room for the intermission, they ended up with a 17-play, 85-yard drive that chewed up 10:51 off the second quarter and ended up with nothing.
“I’ll probably think about that stop for the rest of my life,” Chavez said. “There’s a few plays that I really think about, but that was so crucial. We knew what was on the line. We knew how important it was and that was probably the best moment of the night.”