Week 1 of the Michigan Girls High School Flag Football League is in the books!
Hometown Life sports reporter Brandon Folsom is here to name the MVPs from each game around the region and explain why they stood out amongst the rest.
Reminder: HTL covers teams in Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Canton, Commerce Twp., Farmington, Farmington Hills, Garden City, Livonia, Milford, Northville, Novi, Plymouth, Redford, South Lyon, Wayne, Walled Lake, Westland, White Lake and Wixom.
Dalilah Brents, RU: The Panthers are one of the best teams in the state because of coach Jon Ghazal’s defense, which emphasizes getting to the QB so defensive backs can nab interceptions and create short fields for the offense. That’s exactly what happened in the season opener, as Brents terrorized Cody QB Nevaeha Wheeler, hurrying her six times, sacking her twice and batting down a pass. Ghazal kept shouting, “Sacks equal scholarships! SACKS EQUAL SCHOLARSHIPS!” the first handful of times Brents got to Wheeler.
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Angel Henderson, Thurston: Speed kills, and Henderson proved she has it for days, rushing four times for 106 yards. That included a 76-yard TD run that secured the Eagles’ first win in program history, which is saying something because the ball was hard to hold onto in the driving rain.
Rayanna Lewis, Thurston: The QB looked good vs. Detroit CMA, but she looked even more polished in the second game of the doubleheader. Against the Phoenix, she finished 8 of 18 passing for 181 yards, two TDs, one interception and one one-point conversion, relying on her top targets like Mariya Plata, Mi’Chale Owens and Taylor Kinney.
Reese Holton, St. Mary’s: Had hands down the most impressive performance of the weekend, finishing 18 of 32 passing for 349 yards, 5 TDs, three one-point conversions and one two-point conversion while also returning two interceptions for 37- and 22-yard TDs. The Eaglets don’t do a ton of things in their flag football version of Bill Walsh’s West Coast offense, but what they do is expertly done. In a Joe Montana-like performance, Holton was money on short and intermediate routes crossing through the middle.
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Sophie Abbo, Farmington: And before you ask why St. Mary’s didn’t sub out its starters when the score got out of hand, just know the Eaglets couldn’t. They only have a handful of players on the sidelines. When Holton finally left the game, Abbo made the most of the opportunity, picking off the first pass not thrown by Holton and returning it 22 yards for a score to give the Falcons some life before they later played rival North Farmington.
Emma Adamczyk, Brighton: The Bulldogs took the field immediately after watching Holton dominate through the air, and Adamczyk looked just as impressive behind center. While targeting nine different receivers, she finished 21 of 32 passing for 256 yards, four TDs and one interception to Novi’s Khaell Sakoguchi. Many believe Brighton is the favorite to win the state title this year, and her arm is a big reason why.
Summer Williams, North: Surprisingly, returning an interception 21 yards for a TD wasn’t the biggest play Williams made. With 2:50 left and the Raiders trailing by two points, Chu Boaz completed a pass to Williams, who raced 66 yards for the game-winning TD. The two connected again on the ensuing two-point conversion. Williams finished with three catches for 87 yards.
Allison Stephens, Farmington: Until Williams’ late TD, it looked like the Falcons were going to beat their Farmington Public Schools rival, mostly because of how tough Stephens ran all game. She finished with four rushes for 83 yards, including a 70-yard go-ahead TD that made it 20-12 with 15:23 left.
Grace Fisher, Clawson: Made her senior debut after her mother recently lost a battle with cancer. She rushed 14 times for 173 yards, including a 66-yard TD run that iced the victory. On one play, Fisher broke two tackles for a 22-yard gain, which had Clawson superfan Carrie crying on the sidelines, saying, “You just know her mom helped her with that one. She’d be so proud of her right now.”
Ke'lko Buskin, Groves: The Falcons couldn’t find the end zone, but the junior still showed why she’s one of the best QBs in the state. With Fisher rushing her on almost every play, Buskin stayed calm and poised in the pocket, making tough throws look easy. She finished 10 of 24 passing for 119 yards and added an interception and two pass breakups on defense.
Natalie Jordan, P-CEP: Neither team crossed midfield in the first half, so the travel hockey goalie did the heavy lifting for the Prowlers’ offense after halftime — only she did it on defense. Jordan opened the second half with an interception she returned to the 12-yard line. Two plays later, running back Evelyn Stiglish cashed in on the turnover with a 6-yard sprint for the game’s first score.
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Jordan wasn’t done there. Northville went for it on fourth down in its own territory on the ensuing possession, but Jordan came up with a tackle for loss that forced a turnover on downs and put the Prowlers’ offense at the 13-yard line. That led to Mikayla Roberts tossing a TD to Bella Bozinovski on fourth and goal to secure the victory.
Lili Vettraino, Northville: The chief reason P-CEP couldn’t get anything going offensively was Vettraino, who made just about every throw for Prowlers QB Charlie Lindstrom difficult. Vettraino broke up one pass, had one tackle for loss and two QB hurries that resulted in incomplete passes.
Laylah Brown, Wayne: The Zebras scored just one TD, but that was all they needed. Brown had three carries for 21 yards, including one that went the distance for 6 to secure the first victory in program history.