Flag Football: Ravenwood battles past Page to clinch 3rd championship

FRANKLIN – Lexi Grundler scored the go-ahead touchdown and swiped the clinching interception, while Emma Rayl orchestrated an overwhelming arial attack all day as the Ravenwood High School girls flag football team clinched the third Williamson County championship Sunday.

The Raptors sealed a 28-21 championship win by scoring the most points all season allowed by previously unbeaten and top-seeded Page. The girls also stopped the Patriots final drive over the last two minutes with a major defensive stand.

“It felt like a true championship,” said Grundler, who secured her second interception of the championship with just over a minute remaining. “It’s so much better to earn it. It’s much better than just blowing out a team or getting blown out because you want it so bad, and you have to come through.

“This one feels amazing.”

The senior snagged the go-ahead touchdown – a 14-yard strike from Rayl – with just 4:42 remaining. Hannah Kang caught the ensuing PAT from Rayl, who sizzled under center by going 20-for-25 for 230 yards and four touchdown passes to guide the Ravenwood offense.

“I’m still soaking this in because I just feel so extremely blessed to have this opportunity and to do this with these girls by my side – the bond between this team is incredible,” said Rayl, an All-District basketball player. “Everybody wants it. We have the best athletes from different sports, and we all wanted to win. It’s the best feeling.”

Grundler led the Raptor receivers with six grabs for 67 yards, including a 19-yard strike midway through the first half and the clinching catch when the Michigan State soccer signee ran right to the pylon, posted up in front of two Page defenders and out-jumped another to snag the go-ahead touchdown.

“I don’t think my heart has beat that fast in a while,” Rayl said of the final minutes after trading scores with Page. “I mean, it was back and forth. It was stressful and kept you on your toes, but that just made you want it more. You get so energized in the moment and that makes you want to pull it off even more.”

“I trust Lexi incredibly,” Rayl continued. “I mean, it’s the goalkeepers because I can just throw it in their area and 99.9% of the time, they will come down with the ball. She’s been a huge weapon for us and I’m so grateful we got to play together.”

Last season, another Raptor soccer keeper in Kendall Curran helped boost Ravenwood to a repeat championship. Ravenwood girls’ soccer coach Jessica Mancini, the coach for the Raptors flag team assisted by Ricky Rodriguez, loved getting to work with her girls once again. Ravenwood had a magical run to the Class AAA soccer championship match in October.

“I feel like that’s a mentality piece when you are a star athlete,” Mancini said. “It doesn’t matter what sport you play, if there’s a drive to win and you have those kinds of people around you, it pushes you to succeed. That’s collectively the kind of mindset in the girls we have.

“If you have that wining mentality, you want to just get after it and these girls did that.”

Grundler anchored the defense in goal for the Ravenwood soccer team as the Raptors, the sixth seed in District 10-AAA, battled all the way into the state finals before falling against the nation’s top team two years running in Bearden. The standout keeper helped lead the Ravenwood girls to a repeat soccer title in 2020 as a freshman starter sharing time with Curran.

“I’m not going to lie, the first time I saw her, I knew she was an athlete,” Mancini said with a smile. “It takes seconds to understand that. To see her and how she carries herself, her confidence in her abilities and how she’s just going to get it done, that winning mindset – it’s incredible.”

Grundler’s final interception came on fourth down with the Patriots marching for the tying touchdown. Page quarterback Samantha Lee already converted one fourth down pass to Anna Baker and now had two of her favorite targets converging down field in Baker and Avery Payne facing another fourth down.

The All-State keeper timed her move and split the two wideouts right down the middle, swiping the ball at the 13 and returning it beyond midfield to clinch the championship.

“Honestly, it’s just like picking off crosses in soccer,” Grundler said. “Getting interceptions, there’s not much difference and it’s actually really similar.”

Grundler finished with 14 receptions through the three games Sunday. She added two interceptions in a 19-6 win against No. 7 Franklin to open the day, another pick in the semifinals against Nolensville and the pair in the championship.

She said she and her teammates still felt the pressure to win. The Raptors entered as the No. 2 seed in the tournament after a 6-2 run through the regular season. Page had won the first meeting in Week 1 with a 6-0 result in a game Grundler missed because of a soccer commitment.

“I definitely felt the pressure, I mean, we’re the two-time champs and that’s nerve-racking,” Grundler said. “You just have to take everything in stride and keep excelling and keep pushing otherwise you’ll get in your own head and that’s not healthy.

“You want this because pressure is privilege. We love that. We wanted the pressure, and we took it, and we went and won it all.”

Page coach Charles Rathbone, who has led the Patriots 11-man football team to three consecutive Class 5A championship games, credited Grundler for using her size and athleticism as well as Rayl for placing some great passes for her top target to find.

“Those are two great players there,” he said. “I hate it for our girls because they played so well all season, and they had a chance to win. If we scored, we decided we were going for 2 and the win.

“It just never got to that decision. Again, it was a great atmosphere and loads of fun. We just wish the result would have been different.”

A run heavy Ravenwood offense blew past Page in the first championship in 2022. The Patriots had up-ended previously undefeated Franklin to reach that first championship hosted by the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium.

“This was our best showing,” said Rathbone, who has coached the girls all three seasons. “I’m proud of these girls because they are all such great kids. They’re after my own heart because I hate losing; I hate it with a passion, and I strive to never lose and I think these girls are the same way.

“They represented Page so well regardless of the final outcome.”

Lee threw for 201 yards with three touchdowns and provided several big plays to answer the potent Ravenwood offense.

After battling to a 14-13 halftime with the edge in favor of the Raptors, Ravenwood opened the second 20-minute half in a hurry and Rayl fired a 11-yard strike to Allie Joyce, who supplied several sprawling catches on the day as another featured target for the senior quarterback.

Trailing 21-13 with 15:44 to play, Lee orchestrated a 7-play scoring drive capped when she hit a streaking Mazie Bushman down the sideline for a momentum-swinging 39-yard touchdown. The Page girls went for 2 on the PAT from the 10-yard line and Lee found Payne to tie the game at 21-21 with 11:18 to play.

Ravenwood answered with Rayl leading a 9-play, 66-yard drive. She hit Grundler for a big 14-yard gain to cross midfield and fired back-to-back passes to Crawford before hitting Collier, who slipped a defender for 13 yards. A final rush set Ravenwood up at the Page 14 where Rayl turned to her favorite target for the go-ahead score.

Besides Grundler, standout defenders Macy Fowler, Ashlyn Avery, Paisley Stone, Maggie Woods and Grace Potter all added big stops. Woods and Stone finished with five flag pulls apiece, while Fowler and Avery combined for six flags pulled and a couple pass breakups. Hannah Hulshof added a sack.

Page’s Alexi Turnbow led all defenders with 10 flags pulled to go with a sack.

The girls flag football landscape is growing exponentially nationally, and in Tennessee, the TSSAA recently tagged the sport as “emerging” and moved to sanction it next year. Williamson County Schools athletic director Darrin Jones thanked the girls over the past three years for being “pioneers” for the sport in Tennessee during the trophy ceremony.

After Ravenwood celebrated its third title, winners of each of WillCo’s titles since being established, the Raptors soaked it all in.

“This feels really, really good,” Grundler said.

Her flag coach and soccer coach agreed, while admitting once again how jealous she is of the girls for the opportunity to play flag football.

“I wish there was flag when I was in high school because it’s so much fun,” Mancini said. “These girls from different sports coming together all open up and are a little bit different version of themselves when they play flag. They all thrive in it. I’ll always be jealous in a way. I just hope more girls continue to come out and we continue to build this.

“This sport is going to continue to explode.”

Flag Football: Early tournament games feature plenty of big plays, memorable moments

FRANKLIN – The third Girls Flag Football championship tournament for Williamson County Schoo…

The entire tournament was played out Sunday at both Franklin and Centennial. Find full coverage from all games on the Williamson Herald as well as featured photo galleries.

Ravenwood def. Page, 28-21, Championship

PHS 13 8 – 21

RHS 14 14 – 28

Scoring Summary

1st 14:53 P – Anna Baker 8 run (Pass failed);

1st 8:57 R – Lexi Grundler 19 pass from Emma Rayl (Morgan Collier pass from Rayl);

1st 1:49 P – Baker 1 pass from Samantha Lee (Mazie Bushman pass from Lee);

1st 0:45 R – Laurie Crawford 33 pass from Rayl (Lexi Grundler pass from Rayl);

2nd 15:44 R – Allie Joyce 11 pass from Rayl (Collier pass from Rayl);

2nd 11:18 P – Bushman 39 pass from Lee (Avery Payne pass from Lee);

2nd 4:42 R – Grundler 14 pass from Rayl (Hannah Kang pass from Rayl).

Individual Statistics

RUSHING

PHS 9-47 (Lee 7-32, Baker 1-8, Lauren Utley 1-7); RHS 7-49 (Crawford 3-26, Rayl 4-23).

PASSING

PHS – Lee 16-30-2-3 for 201; RHS – Rayl 20-25-0-4 for 230.

RECEIVING

PHS 16-201 (Bushman 3-71, Payne 5-58, Baker 4-41, Utley 3-17, Chloe Kitchen 1-14); RHS 20-230 (Grundler 6-67, Crawford 4-57, Collier 4-36, Caroline Merville 2-33, Joyce 3-32, Hannah Kang 1-5).

DEFENSE (flag pulls, pass breakups, INTs, sacks)

RHS – Maggie Woods 5, Paisley Stone 5, Grace Potter 4, Macy Fowler 4 & PB, Nola O’Sullivan 4, Ashlyn Avery 2 & PB, Hannah Holshof 2 & Sack, Grundler 2 & 2 INTs, Rhea Carthon 1; PHS – Alexi Turnbow 10 & Sack, Abbygale Robledo 4, Savannah Meek 3, Kyla Davis 3, Ellia Owens 2 & PB, Taylor Burke 2, Ashlyn White 1, Payne PB, Kitchen 1.