Like an army heading into battle, Cavanaugh marched to the West Quad with intensity and the will to win, and for 40 minutes showed a crowd of classmates and families the way football is supposed to be played.
From the first whistle, the game belonged to the Chaos (4-0-1), who dominated the highly-anticipated contest, beating Breen-Phillips (3-2), 21-0.
Cavanaugh got started early, scoring on their first drive when quarterback Lisa Ruffer hit Rachel Byrne for a quick touchdown.
"Right off the bat, we moved the ball all the way down the field," Ruffer said. "Rachel was playing line, and I saw that she got open, so I hit her with the pass."
The Chaos completed the two-point conversion, taking an 8-0 lead. The scoring continued with a 3-yard touchdown pass from Ruffer to Nancy Powaga at the end of the first half, and a 17-yard completion to Janice Flynn for the game's final score.
"The receivers did a great job getting open all game," Ruffer said. "They adjusted to the defense well and ran perfect routes. This was a great game. Everyone played really well."
Due to excess hype surrounding the Breen-Phillips defense, the Cavanaugh offense felt that they had a lot to prove Sunday.
"We came out really wanting to play a great game," Ruffer said. "We've been hearing that Breen-Phillips has the best defense in the league, and we wanted to show what we could do against them. We didn't feel like the rankings on Friday were right, and we hope that this win is enough to convince people that we belong on top of the polls."
The Cavanaugh defense continued its impressive play, holding the strong Breen-Phillips offense scoreless. Babes coach Steve Mattingly felt that his team showed great effort, but simply came up short when it counted.
"This was a tough loss," Mattingly said. "Cavanaugh is a great team, with a good quarterback and good receivers. They made a lot of big plays that really hurt us. Our girls played really hard, but we just couldn't get things going against their defense."
Though disappointed with the loss, Mattingly feels that some good can come out of Sunday's game.
"This gives us some motivation," he said. "We don't want to back into the playoffs; we need to go in with some momentum, because that's like a whole new season."
Pasquerilla West 7, McGlinn 0
It looked like it would be a scoreless game, but that all changed in the last four minutes of the game.
Sunday afternoon on the West Quad field, Pasquerilla West (3-1-1) and McGlinn (1-4) fought the whole game with the Purple Weasels emerging on top.
"It took a while to get rolling," Pasquerilla West cornerback Annie Brusky said. "We were confident. We knew we had to win."
The game started off slow, with sloppy offense by both teams. Each team turned the ball over once. But as the half progressed, so did the teams.
In the first half, McGlinn sacked Pasquerilla West quarterback Heather Van Hoegarden, and put pressure on her the entire half. The Weasel offensive line had trouble preventing McGlinn's defense from getting to their quarterback.
"The second half, we figured out how to block on offense," said Brusky. "Our offense is awesome. I felt like our defense stepped it up. We held them the whole game."
Brigid Bulfin picked off a pass in the second half for the Weasels and ran a short distance before getting stopped.
After the interception, Pasquerilla West began trying new plays. Van Hoegarden broke a run for about 15 yards to set up the ensuing touchdown. Van Hoegarden rolled out to the left under pressure and tossed it to Brenna Mannion, who broke a tackle and scored the touchdown. The extra point was scored by Maureen Spring on a pass from Van Hoegarden.
McGlinn came back strong and came very close to scoring but they were denied that chance when time ran out and Pasquerilla West grabbed the win.
"We have our heart set on the playoffs," Brusky said. "We knew we had to beat McGlinn to get there."
Both teams have one more game before the playoffs, which will take place after fall break.
Walsh 33, Pasquerilla East 7
The Wild Women of Walsh concluded a perfect season Sunday with an impressive 33-7 drubbing of Pasquerilla East.
Citing the mercy rule, referees ended the game with over a minute remaining in the second half, but the outcome was decided much earlier than that.
The Walsh defense set the tone early on, sacking the Pyro quarterback on the first play and then intercepting her on the ensuing snap. Walsh quarterback Mary Sullivan capitalized on the great field position, calling her own number twice before lofting a fourth down pass to an open receiver in the back of the end zone.
"We came out with enthusiasm determined to finish the season on a positive note," Walsh coach Kevin Poppit said.
The quick start provided the Wild Women with a lead they would not relinquish.
After the Pasquerilla East offense failed to gain a yard on the ensuing drive, Walsh had a chance to add to its lead. This time Sullivan completed three consecutive passes, the last being a 15-yard post route that resulted in a touchdown. This was repeated as the futile Pyro attack went three and out once more, giving the ball back to Sullivan who again found an open receiver and delivered a 30-yard dart for the score.
The second half witnessed two more Sullivan touchdown strikes as the winless Pyros were left in the dust.
The 33-7 final gives Walsh (4-0-2) confidence heading into the playoffs.
"We're just going to keep having fun," Poppit said, "And maybe even win a championship."
