Farley's defensive effort shut down the high-powered Pangborn offense to give the Finest an 18-6 victory Thursday night.
In its past three games, Pangborn (3-3) had averaged nearly 25 points a game, but the Phoxes couldn't score until only three minutes remained in the game.
Pangborn's first possession was a three-and-out that failed to gain yardage. Sophomore dual-threat quarterback Gabby Tate did not complete a pass until a minute and a half remained in the first half. Two plays after Tate's first completion, Farley freshmen cornerback Katie Smith intercepted Tate, Smith's first of two interceptions on the night.
"We know our defense is really strong," Farley senior captain Jenny Rolfs said. "And it did an amazing job today."
The Finest offense capitalized on nearly every opportunity the defense presented. Following Pangborn's opening three-and-out, Farley (3-1-1) flew down the field in three plays. On the fourth, sophomore quarterback Emily Murphy threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Rolfs.
On Farley's first drive of the second half, Murphy evaded three Pangborn tacklers to scramble into the end zone. The Finest finished off their scoring with a three-yard touchdown pass to sophomore receiver Molly Casanova the next drive.
"We were able to put last game [a 15-7 loss to undefeated Welsh Family] behind us," Murphy said.
"It felt really good to finally move the ball well and finish our chances," said Rolfs, who was in her second game back after a rib injury.
Pangborn only managed to score after Farley had built the 18-0 lead. At that point, Tate led a long drive down the field and threw five-yard touchdown pass.
The highlight of the Phoxes' defensive performance was their three sacks.
This type of game is not how Pangborn hoped to go into the playoffs, but at least the Phoxes will get a chance to right this sub-par performance after fall break.
Lewis 21, Breen-Philips 13
Lewis hit the ground running from the start of the game and relied on a solid offense during a victory over Breen-Philips.
Senior quarterback Catherine Guarineri accounted for most of the Chicks' rushing yards, making plays with her legs when there was no one open downfield. Chicks captain Katie Sushinsky had nothing but praise for her quarterback's efforts.
"Catherine had a great game," Sushinsky said. "She made great decisions tonight, particularly on her runs. Most of them weren't designed, so she made things happen herself."
Breen-Philips (0-3-2) jumped out to an early 7-0 lead, but Lewis (1-4-0) responded right away, using the run to drive down the field and set up a short touchdown pass. The Chicks and the Babes traded the next few possessions, and a late touchdown by Breen-Philips gave the Babes a 13-7 lead going into halftime.
The second half belonged entirely to the Chicks. After a good defensive stand, Guirineri came on the field and threw a 15-yard touchdown pass and converted the extra point to give Lewis a 14-13 lead.
On the following possession, Breen-Philips drove all the way down the field to within a few yards of the goal line. The Chicks defense held stout, however, forcing a turnover on downs. The offense then proceeded to drive methodically down the field, and Guarineri ran the ball into the end zone on a quarterback option with 10 seconds left to seal the win.
After the game, Chicks head coach Perry Shoemaker said he was thrilled with his team's efforts.
"We finally put all the pieces together tonight, " Shoemaker said. "We had great consistency on offense, and our defense really held together in the second half."
Shoemaker also emphasized the importance of the Chicks' attitude in earning their first win of the season.
"We've been putting in a lot of effort," Shoemaker said. "We weren't just going to roll over. We had the choice to either give up or keep fighting. We decided to keep fighting, and tonight it paid off."
Welsh Family 20, Badin 0
Coming off a huge win over undefeated Farley last week, Welsh Family was determined not to come out flat against a fired up Badin squad coming off its first win of the season.
Despite playing a close first half, Welsh Family (5-0) utilized a combination of offense and defense to beat Badin.
Although the defense played well early, Welsh Family had trouble putting the ball in the end zone against the stout Badin (1-3-1) defense due to a few untimely drops from the Whirlwind wide receivers.
"We had some trouble hanging on to the ball in the first half." Welsh Family coach Mike Kaiser said. "With the weather getting colder and colder, it's going to be imperative for us to look the ball all the way in before trying to make a play after the catch."
After turning the ball over on downs, Badin marched down the field before half, only to be picked off by Welsh Family's opportunistic secondary, which had three interceptions in the game.
With a 7-0 lead going into halftime, and spurred by a fiery halftime speech from Kaiser, Welsh Family morphed into an entirely different team in the second half.
Led by Jenni Gargula, who threw great passes all game, the Whirlwinds wasted no time getting into the end zone, scoring on a play where Gargula maneuvered deftly in the pocket and found an open Steph Bendinelli streaking across the middle.
On the next drive, Gargula hit senior wide receiver Meghan Mulhern on a corner route to make the score 20-0.
"I was happy we hung in there with them early," Badin coach Jon Heintz said. "Unfortunately, I think the excitement from last week's win, and having practice rained out on Tuesday came back to hurt us."
Welsh Family will look to close out the perfect season on Sunday against Breen Phillips as Badin will hope to exact revenge against Walsh.
