Three years after being formed, the Pope High School flag football team has won a state championship.
The Greyhounds scored a touchdown late in the fourth quarter Wednesday to take the lead against Allatoona, then held off their Cobb County rivals thanks to a missed extra-point to prevail 14-13 in the Georgia High School Association’s Division 3 title game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
The margin of difference for Pope (26-2) was a defensive play by Pope’s Sarah Gentry, who broke up an extra-point pass with 20 seconds left to preserve the win.
Riley Bensman, a senior quarterback, threw three touchdown passes for Pope, which defeated Allatoona 40-7 earlier in the season.
The Greyhounds, who are coached by Kevin Fraser, lost only to Milton and Blessed Trinity during the season. Pope avenged the loss to Blessed Trinity with a 7-6 victory the state semifinals.
This is the fourth year the GHSA has had a state championship for girls flag football, and this was the first year the finals were played in conjunction with the boys football title games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Kell and Walton also qualified for the Division 3 state playoffs this season, as did Marietta, Pebblebrook and McEachern.
Other team members for Pope this year included Meryl Palazzo; Abbey Bensman, Kourtney Kalman, Mac Wiley, Kate Davenport, Faith Stokes, Carly Oubs, Alysa Cabrera, Syra Patel, Laila Nixon, Cora Davis, Olivia O’Connor, Julia Acker, Danielle Morgan, Elizabeth Kelly, Giselle Aitken and Lucy Cantando.
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