Blue Streaks getting ready for inaugural OHSAA Flag Football State Tournament

The Madison Girls Flag Football team couldn’t have had better Monday night earlier in the week. Playing in the regional tournaments hosted by the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals, the Blue Streaks were one of eight schools to punch their ticket to the Inaugural OHSAA Girls Flag Football State Tournament this Saturday inside Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton. Madison, as the 13th seed, won the Browns regional tournament with four wins. “It couldn’t have worked out any better if I’d wrote the script myself,” coach Jay Ross said. Madison cruised past Fairbanks 39-14, and defeated Magnificat 26-6, before an anticipated rematch against Berkshire, which beat the Blue Streaks 32-20 March 27. Madison took a 13-6 lead in the fourth quarter. The Badgers responded with a touchdown drive, then opted for a 2-point conversion, which failed, and the Blue Streaks recorded a 13-12 victory. “The girl [Berkshire player] made an amazing catch, but she was out of bounds,” Ross said of the deciding play. “It was an insane ending.” Madison used that momentum to blank Midview 34-0 in the regional championship game. “Beating Berkshire, that was pretty much our Super Bowl,” Ross said. “Once we got through there, when Midview came to town, we were so ready to take care of business. I don’t think anyone could have beaten us in that game.” Ross said the usual cast of characters came up big for Madison Monday night. “CC Alley [the regional tournament MVP] was unbelievable,” Ross said. “Her and Gianna [LaMarco], obviously are basketball teammates. “They found each other early. Gianna found her about 10 times over the four games for some touchdowns. She was a force on defense as well.” Kennedy Ross and Payton Kerr also made big plays. “We had about nine or 10 girls make plays for us on both sides of the ball,” Ross said. At noon Saturday, Madison is scheduled to open against Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame, the fourth seed, from the Bengals region, in one of four quarterfinal games. Ross believed his team could have turned the dream into a reality. “We’re a very young roster and the girls still probably have not realized what they’ve done,” he said. “We just approached every game one game at a time. “They don’t know what they don’t know, which teams are good, which teams are beatable, that kind of thing. We just kept our heads down all the way through and kept chugging along.” The other noon quarterfinal games consist of: Midview, the No. 2 seed from the Browns region against No. 3 Cincinnati Princeton; No. 3 Berkshire vs. No. 2 Cincinnati St. Ursula and No. 4 Nordonia against No. 1 Hamilton Badin. The semifinals are scheduled for 1 p.m. and the championship game is at 2:30 p.m. Four playing fields, which are 25 yards wide by 70 yards long, will be set up inside the stadium.