Flag Football rolls to District Championship; Baseball rallies past Cypress Creek

Junior quarterback Hannah Schaible completed 20 of 27 passes for six touchdowns and intercepted two passes on defense as Flag Football rocked host Oak Ridge, 53-0, for their third consecutive District Championship and seventh in nine years. Jade Cheek hauled in a pair of scoring passes and returned an interception for a touchdown while Shya Garrett and Malia Harrison caught two touchdown passes each. DP (14-0) took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on a touchdown pass to Shya Garrett and an extra point catch by Ashley Vevera and that was all the defense would need. The Panthers went on a 24-0 scoring run in the second quarter with Schaible’s second touchdown pass to Garrett, Cheek’s interception return for a score, a Schiable touchdown pass to Jade Cheek and a a touchdown recption by Malia Harrison set up by Schaible’s first interception. A long methodical touchdown drive culminated in a second scoring pass from Schaible to Cheek with a Harrison extra point and DP ramped up the lead to 39-0. In the fourth quarter, I’munique Green’s interception set the Panthers up in scoring position again and they didn’t waste the opportunity. An option pitch to Jshyra Reed for a touchdown and the extra point by Gabriella Lopez extended the rout to 46-0 and later in the quarter, Malia Harrison capped the barrage with her second touchdown reception for the 53-0 final. Defensively, the Panthers were led by Daija Phillips and Ashley Vevera with five flag pulls each. DP will now travel up to Apopka for the first round of the State Tournament Friday afternoon at 4:00 pm.

In District Tournament Semifinal action, Baseball found themselves in a 3-0 hole with two outs in the top of the sixth inning but roared back for seven runs over their last two innings to knock out Cypress Creek, 7-4, and clinch a Regional Tournament appearance. Robbie Barrett started and struck out five over four innings before yielding to Mike Flaherty, who pitched two scoreless innings, striking out two. In the sixth, down 3-0, Jack Flaherty led off with a single, went to second on a hit and run and scored on Dan Autiello’s RBI base hit to cut the deficit to 3-1. With one out and Hakim Nobles running for Autiello, Jalen Phillips walked and Jakob Probst (3-4) followed with an RBI single to score Nobles to make it 3-2. Nick Strasser stepped into the box with runners at second and third and delivered a base hit to score Phillips and we were knotted up at 3-3. With runners at the corners and two outs, Billy Underwood laced a double down the left field line scoring Probst and Strasser for a 5-3 lead. Ryan Larson ripped a double to score Underwood to put DP up 6-3. In the seventh inning, the Panthers added another run when Robbie Barrett doubled, went to third on a fielder’s choice and scored on an RBI base hit by Jalen Phillips. Ryan Larson came on in relief in the seventh and picked up the save as the Panthers (12-14) capped a remarkable comeback to advance to Friday’s District Championship game vs. Boone at 4:00 pm.

DP Women’s Lacrosse had a school-record four players named to the first team All-Metro West Conference. Senior midfielder Katherine Breese, senior goaltender Mia Emmerson, junior attack Elizabeth Hales and freshman midfielder Cymber Larkin were recognized by the conference coaches, who also voted coach Kerry Watson as Coach of the Year.  Additionally, the All-District team was released with Breese, Larkin and Emmerson earning first team honors while Hales and junior Sarah Hamp earned Honorable Mention. They’ll travel to Timber Creek tomorrow night for the second round of the State Tournament. For a complete listing of all individual honors received this season by DP athletes, visit the following link on PantherZone: http://dpathletics.ocps.net/announcement_view.asp?nid=23

The Orlando Sentinel honored DP’s Men’s Lacrosse team as Team of the Week for the first time in program history. DP captured their first District Championship last week with a thrilling victory over Olympia and will head to Winter Park tomorrow for the second round of the State Tournament. This marks the fourth time this year a DP team has been presented the award.

Track and Field competes at the Regional Championship today and Men’s Volleyball takes on Apopka tonight with a chance to be undefeated Metro West Conference champions.