Harris fuels Lady Rams past LaFayette

BY DANIEL SCHMIDT 

THE LAFAYETTE SUN

VALLEY — It was a tale of two flag football teams. LaFayette High School was looking to get back on track after losing their first-ever game 34-0 to Lanett High School the week before, while Valley High School hoped to make a statement in its season opener.

It was the Lady Rams (1-0) who achieved their mission, scoring twice in the fourth quarter to take a 32-13 win over the Lady Bulldogs (0-2) at Ram Stadium on Aug. 25.

Kailee Harris was the driving force for Valley, throwing for two touchdowns and running for a third. 

For LaFayette, Skyy Boston emerged as the team’s top playmaker after scoring a rushing TD and intercepting three passes, including one she returned for a pick-six.

“It feels great, especially to get a win over one of the other Chambers County schools and an area rival,” Valley head coach William Elliot said. “It just feels like there’s a lot more buy-in this year. I think we’ve been able to do a lot more, and with that, I’m seeing more — I don’t know if the word I want to use is aggression or just smarter play — but something, confidence maybe.”

Harris attributed her performance, and Valley’s showing as a team overall, to grueling hours-long workouts during June and July.

“We worked so hard in that super-hot heat all summer long, even though we didn’t want to be out there, but we still came out and gave it all for about two, two-and-a-half hours, and tonight I really think it showed on the field,” Harris said. “I think we’ll use this win as motivation, but humble motivation, because we’ll play some big teams, good teams, fast teams and smart teams. At practice, we’ve just got to lock in, keep getting better and work on what we need to work on.”

It didn’t take long for the Lady Rams to get on the board, with Harris hitting Ka’Mara Prothro for a 47-yard TD several plays into the game. That same connection converted the extra point to put the Lady Rams up 7-0 with 10:53 left in the first quarter.

The Lady Bulldogs finally answered early in the second quarter, when Boston scored on a 3-yard run with 11:43 remaining and Karla Williams ran in the extra point to tie it 7-7.

Not long after, Valley regained the lead after Harris found Hailey Murphy for a 4-yard TD pass with 4:58 left in the half. The ensuing two-point try failed, keeping the score 13-7. 

A shanked Lady Bulldogs punt then gave the Lady Rams the ball at the LaFayette 30 yard line, which Shula White converted into points with a 24-yard TD run with 1:14 remaining. Zorriah Simpson caught the extra-point pass from Harris to make it 20-7.

LaFayette pulled back within a score in the third quarter, when Boston returned an interception 53 yards for a TD with 4:09 left in the period. The extra point was no good, cutting the deficit to 20-13.

While Boston added another interception less than two minutes later, nothing came of it for the Lady Bulldogs.

In the fourth quarter, Harris put the game out of reach with a 57-yard TD run with 7:53 left to extend the lead to 26-13. 

LaFayette’s Alaina White recorded an interception, and Valley’s Taniah Veasley returned an interception 22 yards for a TD with six seconds to play. Officials called the game there, and the Lady Rams took the season opener 32-13.

After showing noticeable signs of improvement from their first game, LaFayette head coach Demarco McNeil said he was proud of his players for continuing to work hard and improve.

“When you’re playing sports, good things are going to happen and bad things are going to happen,” McNeil said. “We don’t worry about that kind of stuff. We just come out here and try to play and coach the game the right way, especially with us being a young program. I can’t ask for much more from the girls.”

Questions emerge

Controversy surfaced late in the game when it appeared a volunteer handling the down marker on LaFayette’s sideline was communicating with Valley players by using hand signals.

While there’s no way to know exactly what impact it had on the game, it still drew a reaction from the Lady Bulldogs’ coaches and administrators present on the field.

After complaining to game officials to little avail, McNeil’s frustrations were thinly veiled when asked about the situation.

“Everybody saw it. I don’t know, man. I don’t want to say anything too crazy, but at some point it’s got to stop,” McNeil said. “These girls at LaFayette work just as hard as anybody else around here, and for them to get the short end of the stick most of the time in a situation that should be 50/50 is not right. We’ve got to be twice as good to get half the rewards. So, we’re just going to continue to play the right way and go from there.”

Elliot said he had no knowledge of the marker holder’s actions and he would look into the situation.

“If that’s the case, then I’ll definitely address it and it won’t happen again,” Elliot said.