Renegades dig for fifth straight title
Renegades 35 Slam 7
It wasn’t easy at the start, but the Boston Renegades, the best second-half team in the Women’s Football Alliance, came through at the end.
The Renegades rallied from an early 7-0 deficit to score 35 unanswered points and win their fifth straight league title — and eighth in franchise history — in a 35-7 victory over the St. Louis Slam on Saturday at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio.
The Renegades (9-0) achieved the victory despite a first quarter that was a complete opposite of how they had played offensively all season.
The Slam (8-1) found a way to stymie the usual dynamic play of Renegades veteran quarterback Allison Cahill for most of the first half, with Boston coming up empty on its first four possessions.
While they may have been frustrated, the Renegades did not panic — especially after St. Louis back Jada Humphries, who spearheaded the Slam’s 130-yard rushing effort in the first half, scored on a 50-yard scamper around the left side seven minutes into the second quarter. Humphries’s animated endzone celebration seemed to fire up the Renegades, who answered on their next series.
Cahill put the Renegades on the board with a 25-yard scoring toss to Stephanie Pascual with 3:41 left in the second quarter.
After Renegades linebacker Darcy Leslie intercepted St. Louis quarterback Jaime Gaal, Cahill found Chanté Bonds alone in the end zone with two minutes left in the half to put the Renegades up for good, 14-7.
The Renegades wore down the Slam’s league-leading defense in the second half, thanks to a strong performance by defensive end Whitney Zelee.
“Honestly, we practice against the best offense in the game at every practice,” Zelee said in her ESPN2 postgame interview.
Formerly a promising running back, Zelee, who ended up leaving the sport for a time because of injuries, returned to the Renegades last season as a defensive player. On Saturday, Zelee’s position switch proved pivotal as she earned game MVP honors after finishing with four tackles and three pass deflections, most of which came in the second half.
“She put in an incredible amount of hard work, physically and mentally, to get back here,” said Cahill, who is also Zelee’s partner. “I’m back to being the second-best football player in our house.”
Tytti Kuusinen scored on 4yard burst to give the Renegades a 14-point lead 10 minutes into the third. After Boston converted on third and 24, Ruth Matta scored on a 10-yard jaunt for a 28-7 lead with seconds left in the third.
With 1:50 left in the game, Latoya Saulters sliced her way into the end zone on a 9-yard TD run to to put an exclamation point on the Renegades’ fifth consecutive championship.
It was also the eighth overall for Cahill, 42, a veteran of two decades of women’s professional football. “I’m feeling proud and grateful,” she said.