Flag Football: Elyria sweeps pair of games in season-opening event

EDITOR'S NOTE: Jalea Pinkston was misidentified in the original version of the story.ELYRIA — Friday night lights has a whole new meaning this spring.After playing last year, Elyria ventured back into the world of girls flag football Friday night at Elyria Catholic High School as teams in the Northern Ohio Girls Flag Football League began Orange Division play in the Western Conference for the first time.The Pioneers, Amherst, Avon Lake, Black River, Elyria Catholic, Midview and Oberlin are part of 121 teams across the state playing under support of the Ohio High School Athletic Association and sponsored by the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals. The first state champion will be crowned in mid-May.Elyria got off to a great start by winning a pair of games from Medina County teams.The Pioneers opened with a solid 23-6 win over Cloverleaf, jumping out to a 17-0 lead in the first half on a pair of Camryn Kelley touchdown passes to Nalani Vinovich and a safety when the Colts dropped a snap in the end zone."I think I really had some first-game nerves," said Kelley, who went 6-for-13 against Cloverleaf. "This isn't new to us, we've really practiced hard, so I knew we had a good team coming into the year and I think you saw that in the first half."The Pioneers made it 23-0 right out of the gate in the second half when Cloverleaf quarterback Maddison Steele was picked off by Jalea Pinkston and she went all the way for a score.The Cloverleaf first-game nerves finally subsided, as it got its initial first down in the middle of an eight-play drive that resulted in a Steele scoring pass to Rylee Winkelman for the first touchdown in Colts history.The Pioneers followed up the one-sided contest with a back-and-forth affair that wasn't decided until the final minute as Elyria pulled out a 24-18 win over Medina.The Bees' Haylie Perdue set the tone with a pick-six on the Pioneers' first possession for a 6-0 lead that set up Elyria playing from behind for most of the game.Bella Sauer got the first of her two touchdown receptions on a pass from Kelley, but Medina scored on the final play of the first half on a Norah Shumar TD grab for a 12-6 lead.Elyria wasted no time tying the game again, scoring on the first play of the second half on another Sauer TD. The Bees offense kept rolling when Perdue hit Courtney Snow to snag an 18-12 advantage.Medina nearly went up by two scores after Perdue's second interception, but a fourth-down pass was broken up in the end zone by Elyria's Kam Scott.Elyria used that momentum to get a Sauer-to-Kelley TD pass to knot things at 18, and Pinkston ripped away the game from the Bees with a pick that was nearly returned for a score. Kelley hit Nalani Vinovich with the winner with 26 seconds left."This was way more fun than I thought it would be," Pinkston said about her first flag football experience. "It felt so great to get that pick and have us turn around and get that score. In the end, I was just able to do my thing.""That was such a good start for us and a good test to get the season started," Pioneers coach Matt Wilson said. "These girls are having a lot of fun doing this and it's a great experience to come out and compete underneath the lights."Contact James Brady at (440) 329-7135 or jbrady_ct@yahoo.com.Elyria 23, Cloverleaf 6Cloverleaf 0 6 — 6Elyria 17 6 — 23ScoringE — Nalani Vinovich pass from Bella Sauer (Camryn Kelly 2-point pass to Sauer)E — Vinovich pass from Kelley (Vinovich 1-point pass from Kelley)E — Safety, dropped snap in end zoneE — Jalea Pinkston interception return (pass failed)C — Rylee Winkelman pass from Maddison Steele (pass failed)Individual StatisticsRUSHES — (C) Steele 5, Nova Peer 3, Kayla Schemp 2; (E) Tyra Washington 2, Sauer 2, Kam Scott 2, Mi'Lynne Jackson 1, Kelley 1, Zi'Honesty O'dell 1, Kamryn Jackson 1.PASSING — (C) Peer 5-for-14, Madeline Blaha 0-for-2, Steele 1-for-2, Kayla Schempp 1-for-1; (E) Kelley 6-for-13, Jackson 0-for-2.RECEPTIONS — (C) Steele 5, Schempp 2, Rylee Winkelman 1, Emma Haumesser 1; (E) Nalani Vinovich 5, Sauer 1.FIRST DOWNS — (C): 1; (E) 4.Elyria 24, Medina 18Medina 12 6 — 18Elyria 6 18 — 24Scoring M — Haylie Perdue interception return (run failed)E — Bella Sauer pass from Camryn Kelley (pass failed)M — Morah Shumar pass from Perdue (run failed)E — Sauer pass from Kelley (pass failed)M — Courtney Snow pass from Perdue (run failed)E — Kelley pass from Sauer (pass failed)E — Nalani Vinovich pass from Kelley (pass failed)Individual Statistics RUSHES — (M) Courtney Snow 4, Gabriella Lavolpa 2, Sophia Lavolpa 2, Haylie Perdue 1; (E) Sauer 3, Kelley 1, Kam Scott 1.PASSING — (M) S. Lavolpa 3-for-10, Perdue 6-for-9; (E) Kelley 11-for-23.RECEPTIONS — (M) G. Lavolpa 3, Brooke Haycook 3, Perdue 1, Norah Shumar 1, Snow 1; (E) Sauer 7, Vinovich 3, Tyra Washington 1.FIRST DOWNS — (M) 3; (E) 4.