Rockwall-Heath beats Houston Memorial in Texas High Schools Girls Flag Football Championship: Live Score Recap

The Texas Girls Flag Football State Championship is being held this weekend at the University of North Texas.

Games started on Saturday with 8 teams and concludes with the championship game at 1:15 p.m. at the DATCU Stadium.

The event is co-sponsored by the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans, with teams from all over the state in the final grouping.

The championship is part of a broader effort by both organizations to expand competitive opportunities for young female athletes and to advocate for girls flag football to become a sanctioned high school sport in the State of Texas, according to a news release.

Since 2016, the NFL, its 32 clubs and football partners have worked to increase high school girls flag football participation nationwide. Today, more than 500,000 girls ages 6–17 play flag football across the United States, with 17 state athletic associations sanctioning the sport for varsity play.

Quotables

"High school football is the heartbeat of Texas, and seeing more and more girls take the field through flag is a reminder that the game is bigger than any one team," said Dallas Cowboys Chief Brand Officer and Co-Owner Charlotte Jones. "Teaming up with the Texans for our state championship is about more than just crowning a winner, it's about opening doors, celebrating talent and growing football for a whole new generation of young women. The future of girls flag football is incredibly bright and we are proud to be a part of a journey that is only just beginning to show its power."

"We are thrilled to partner with the Cowboys to host the first-ever girls flag state championship as we continue to work together to grow the game we love," said Houston Texans Chief Community Officer and Vice President of the Houston Texans Foundation Hannah McNair. "When our high school girls take the field, it will be another shining example of the pathway we are building from youth participation to the pros in this sport. We know that football changes lives and we are proud to inspire the next generation of female athletes and future leaders across the great state of Texas."

WATCH: Live on Dave Campbell's Texas Football

Dallas Cowboys Pool Play Teams

Carrollton Newman Smith

Austin L.C. Anderson

Rockwall-Heath

El Paso El Dorado

Houston Texans Pool Play Team

El Paso Eastwood

Round Rock

South Houston

Houston Memorial

Pool play games were held on Saturday at the indoor training facility for the North Texas Mean Green. Sunday morning started bracket play.

The championship game for each division starts at 11:30 a.m.

Dallas Cowboys Semifinals

Rockwall-Heath vs. El Paso El Dorado

Houston Texans Semifinals

El Paso Eastwood vs. Houston Memorial

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME INFO

Rockwall-Heath vs. Houston Memorial

1st Quarter

Memorial to get the ball first

Memorial facing a 3rd down on opening drive

Brooklyn McGill with 1st-down run for Memorial

TOUCHDOWN! Angelyn Rau to Nan Carrillo. 16:07 on the clock. 6-0

Conversion fails as Charlotte Traa intercepts it at the goal line

Hawks takes over with 15:22 left on the clock (running clock)

Rockwall-Heath turns over ball on down with incomplete pass on 4th down. Memorial ball with 13 minutes left

Memorial turns it over and Heath takes over

TOUCHDOWN! 65-yard pass and run by Olivia Richard from Hadley Harper. Tied at 6-6

COVERSION GOOD! Rockwall-Heath goes up 7-6 with Payten Strickland catching the conversion pass.

Memorial driving with less than 4 minutes to play.

Interception by Strickland at the 2-yard line. She runs it back to the 6-yard line befor her flag is taken.

Heath ball with 2:40 and rolling left.

4th down coming up for Heath near midfield

Harper is sacked by Ashlyn Koy; turnover on downs

19 seconds left in 1st

Memorial gets to the 3 yard but the time runs out.

HAFLTIME: Rockwall-Heath 7, Houston Memorial 6

Heath gets the ball to open the 2nd

Penalty on 1st play and loss of down for the Hawks

Hawks convert on 3rd down to keep drive alive. 15 minutes left and rolling

Automatic 1st down for Heath thanks to a roughing call on Memorial

Turnover on downs; Heath faced a 4th and goal from the 1. Pass falls to the turf.

Lady Mustangs ball with 12 minutes to play

Very contrasting offenses for the most part; Memorial runs the ball a lot, while Heath I don't think has a carry yet

Turnover on downs for Memorial on an incomplete pass. Heath ball with 9:27 to play

Harper to Laurealea Carlyle for a 1st down and inside Memorial territory

Harper to Traa for 5 more yards. 17 yards from end zone with 7 minutes left

TOUCHDOWN! Harper to Carlyle again this time for a TD with 6:26 left. Rockwall-Heath 13, Memorial 6

Conversion pass fails. One possession game with 6 minutes left

Rau's pass almost picked off by Leah Wilson. Falls to ground and 2nd down coming up 5 minutes to play

TOUCHDOWN! Wilson got it that time. 10-yard INT return for a score with 3:47 to go. That should do for the Lady Hawks. 19-6

Heath converts on conversion pass. Strickland from Harper. 2:48 to play, but there is a flag on the play

Flag is on Heath so points come off the board and we retry from the 10 instead of the 5. Clock still rollling. 30 seconds on play clock. 1:52 on game clock

Conversion fails, pass comes up short.

Memorial ball with 1 minute left

TOUCHDOWN! Carylyl with a pick 6 on the final play of the game. What an ending

FINAL: Rockwall-Heath 25, Houston Memorial 6

Houston Memorial quarterback Angelyn Rau, right, throws a pass during the Texas Girls Flag Football Championship game on Sunday in Denton. | Cody Thorn

RECAP

Laurelea Carlyle put an emphatic ending to an undefeated season for Rockwall-Heath.

Freshman got an interception in the final seconds of the Texas Girls State Flag Football Championship game and ran it back for a touchdown.

The final points of the game gave the Lady Hawks a 25-6 win over Houston Memorial on Sunday at DATCU Stadium at the University of North Texas.

The Lady Hawks had a pair of defensive scores and overcame an early deficit to beat the previously unbeaten Lady Mustangs in a Dallas vs. Houston showdown.

The first-ever Texas state tournament was sponsored by the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans.

Rockwall-Heath, coached by Kenley Harper and Matthew Jones, went undefeated in pool play on Saturday and then beat Austin L.C. Anderson and El Paso El Dorado in bracket play on Sunday before the finals.

“I told the girls on the first day of tryouts that if you are in this huddle, you will win a state championship,” Harper said.

He said most of the girls on the JV basketball team came out to try out. Of the 17 girls on the roster, he estimated that 13 or 14 had not played flag football before the season started.

“I didn’t know the other 15 would show up and do what they’ve done,” Harper said. “It’s always been about those girls. They do everything you ask of them and they compete to no end.”

Junior Haley Harper and freshman Charlotte Traa are both club flag football players for Coach Harper with Texas Fury. They made a big push within Rockwall-Heath High School to get the program added.

Haley Harper, the Lady Hawks quarterback, threw a pair of touchdowns and was named her team’s MVP of the championship game.

Haley Harper helped the Lady Hawks overcome an early 6-0 deficit.

On the first drive of the first half, the Lady Mustangs marched down and scored on Angelyn Rau’s touchdown pass to Nan Carrillo. The ball was deflected and Carrillo pulled it in for the score.

Brooklyn McGill, Memorial’s MVP of the game, had a big third-down conversion run to keep that first drive alive.

The 1-point conversion was intercepted by Traa.

After a turnover on downs on Memorial’s second drive, the field flipped for the Lady Hawks — possession reverts to the 5-yard line on a 70-yard field in girls' flag football.

On the first play, center Olivia Richard snapped it to Haley Turner and then caught the pass and ran up the Memorial sideline without getting either of her flags taken off.

Just like that, a 65-yard score tied the game.

Harper hit Peyton Strickland for the conversion and a 7-6, which ended up being the score at the break.

Harper’s second touchdown pass was to Carlyle on a 17-yard score with less than 6 1/2 minutes to play.

Harper said she started playing club football five years ago and has always been a big football fan — particularly of the Tennessee Volunteers.

She sported the Vols’ colors on her cleats, an orange and white checkered pattern.

After she helped the Lady Hawks take a one-possession lead, the defense accounted for two Pick-6s.

Leah Wilson added the first and then Carlyle's return was her second score of the game, as the clock expired to set up the championship celebration.

“I hope this shines some light on girls' flag football and shows that we deserve everything we’ve gotten; that we are really good and taken seriously,” Haley Harper said. “I feel like a lot of people are like, ‘Oh, it’s football, like girls can’t be good at football. But no, we never stop competing.”

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