The Tigers might be newcomers to competition, but the Mamaroneck Flag Football program is already making history.
On Saturday afternoon, Mamaroneck advanced to the Class A Flag Football semifinals, beating North Rockland 20-6 to keep its inaugural season alive.
Maddie Cashman connected with Soukey Tounkara and Elsy O’Connor for a pair of touchdown passes, Margaret Insley ran for a score, accounting for Mamaroneck’s offensive output in the program’s biggest victory to date.
Head coach Anthony Vitti credited Cashman with hanging tough despite a pair of early interceptions, noting it was only a matter of time before the Tigers were able to break through against the Red Raiders.
“I think the wind maybe took away our deep balls early on, and I think we got a bit eager early on, but we figured it out later in the half,” he said.
Defensively, the Tigers were led by another stellar outing by standout Sarah Sherman, keeping the visitors out of the end zone on all but one North Rockland drive.
“She just bleeds for this team,” said Vitti of Sherman. “She’s been banged up all year but she won’t come off the field.”
Vitti lauded his players for their commitment to improvement, noting that the buy-in has been noticeable in the program’s inaugural campaign.
“We’re well-studied. The girls go home, they watch film, they listen to the coaches. They’ve really done a great job this year of understanding the game and how it’s played,” said Vitti. “I think we’ve all had to grow up in a hurry to kind of figure out how this game is played and what the nuances are, and they’ve just done a really good job of being students of the game, coming day-in and day-out, and working hard.”
After winning their quarterfinal round game, the Tigers went on to knock off Arlington in the semifinals to reach their first-ever Section 1 finals game. Their opponent on Saturday will be a familiar one, as they’ll see top-seeded Scarsdale. The two teams split the season series, with the Raiders edging the Tigers in their first meeting and Mamaroneck returning the favor with a 25-6 romp on March 29.
The two teams will square off at 10:30 a.m. at Lakeland High School.
