FORT WALTON BEACH — On paper, this is the best Pryor middle school flag football team ever. The metrics support it, as does the eye test.
On a night when Bella Brooks bobbed and weaved her way 66 yards to the house and flashed her dual-threat talents with three rushing scores and another three passing against a Destin defense that dropped seven and rushed no one…
On a night when Kadelina Bledsoe opened the night with an interception and closed it with back-to-back touchdown receptions…
On a night when Ana Garcia took away a pitch on a kickoff return and Jessalynn Robinson secured her fifth interception of the season as the Pirates didn’t allow Destin’s offense past midfield…
On a night when Pryor architect and head coach Justin Savage celebrated the program’s 10th straight Okaloosa County flag championship, sixth straight title with the entire county competing and fourth straight title as a sanctioned sport by the Middle School Athletic Conference…
Pryor capped off the most impressive season in Okaloosa County middle school history.
Fourteen-and-zero. No points allowed. A 40-0 Okaloosa County championship win over a Destin team that made Shoal River look pedestrian in the semifinals, capped, of course, by the celebration chant: “Pryor, the blue, black and white make a monster.”
Perhaps a monster was born when Destin coach Demetris Stevens told Savage he thought there’d be a changing of the guard in this year’s championship.
“Obviously the statement was made,” Savage said. “Our girls, man, they show up all summer. Also, we have 25 workouts with the boys football team. We have most of our eighth grade girls coming in, and I had three members of this team play tackle football. Like, it’s just invaluable, the work ethic and the buy-in for this program. I mean, they love this school. Our girls breathe, sleep, eat flag football. They love it. I think you see it with Choctaw being a premier program. The girls win at this stage, and they take it to high school. This is special.”
He’s right. This is a big reason why Choctawhatchee enters the Region 1-2A tournament as the No. 1 seed and bidding for a fifth straight Final 4 appearance.
“I’m excited. It’s a lot of pressure that comes with it, but I’m excited for the new challenge and to see what it contains,” said Brooks, who was reminded senior quarterback Diaris Morales will be gone. “This is a big spot. I don’t know what they have down on JV, but I’m excited to go compete for a spot. Hopefully a starting spot, and just go play the sport I love, compete some and contribute.”
Brooks shook off an opening interception and opened the scoring with a 6-yard touchdown run, found Tara Mignard for a 4-yard score and took advantage of the no-rush Destin defense with another easy run to paydirt for a19-0 lead. In the third quarter, Brooks delivered the play of the night.
She bided her team, juked two linebackers, juked another two corners and broke the safety’s ankles. Never was she touched, 66 yards to the end zone.
“My feet are probably my scariest weapon right now as I’m working on my arm,” Brooks said. “The coaches are looking at me, and (coach Savage) is like, ‘Don’t be scared to use your feet.’ And I kind of saw it there. There’s nobody open, and I knew that rusher couldn’t touch me. So I kind of just made a move, and then I kind of just blacked out until I got the corner on me, and I just made a move. And then I looked back, and I saw the corner from the other side chasing after me, and I was like, yeah, I’m in the end zone.”
Savage has seen every defensive alignment try to contain Brooks. No one’s been successful.
“We’ve seen two rushes, we’ve seen three rushes, we’ve seen one, little spy, and now we’ve seen none,” he said. “It took about two drives both games tonight to settle in and really see her reads, trust her reads. She’s a player, and we saw her athleticism on the run.
“She’s just so electric, so fast, and like you saw, it wasn’t a wonder seeing her leave three or four girls in the dust. She’s a special, special athlete. Now when she translates to the next level, as her arm develops, her feet will be able to save her, and no one has seen her ceiling.”
By night’s end, Brooks would account for six scores.
“It’s really about trusting my receivers that they will get open,” Brooks said. “They find grass, and I kind of just, uh, felt that pressure at the beginning. But then it was just like, I love the sport. I’ve played the sport for three years. I know how to play the game. So I can just adapt and make pays.”
The defense didn’t need the points, but they appreciated it.
“I would say that we just communicate with each other, and we always just have a positive attitude and we’re always ready,” Bledsoe said. “And we’re never just down, you know? Like, you’re always picking each other up. We just know that, no matter what happens, we have each other’s back.”
Echoed Robinson: “We have fun. It’s like a little family on the field. We’ve made some memories and I love my teammates. And I love my coaches. They know what they’re doing, like they’ve been doing this for a long time and they’d never set us up for failure. So all that insight and input on what you should do, where you should be, how you should fix your positioning, we grow from that and learn. It’s just great instruction from our coaches.”
On coaching, Bledsoe explained the connection between her and Savage.
“Coach Savage is one of the most supportive people I’ve ever met,” she said. “He is such a kind, genuine person. He’s so nice, like, he’s there for me. And I just love our relationship, ’cause it grew over the last three years and I don’t think that that relationship will ever break. He believes in us, and we believe in him. And I know I can trust him. He knows he can trust me. It’s just a really good, strong relationship, and it’s why we all love playing for him.”
This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Pryor defense completes perfect season, Bella Brooks has 6 TDs in 40-0 win
Reporting by Seth Stringer, Northwest Florida Daily News / Northwest Florida Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
