The Bloomingdale Bulls upset the top-seeded Cougars, 19-0, in last week’s 2A-District 6 championship game.
All good things must come to an end one day. Unfortunately for the Durant Cougars, last Thursday was when their strong season came to its end.
Durant entered the Class 2A-District 6 flag football championship tournament as the top-seeded squad with a full head of steam after perhaps the program’s best-ever regular season. With just one loss on the record and half of their wins coming by shutout, the Cougars looked very hard to stop on paper. On the field, that held up through much of the tournament.
The team started with a 52-6 blowout win over eighth-seeded Leto on April 20. Morgan Brill completed 25 of 31 pass attempts for 297 yards and four touchdowns against three interceptions. Maggie Lauber led the receiving corps with 115 yards and two touchdown catches, and joining her in the end zone with one receiving touchdown apiece were Brooklyn Kash, Alexis Swantek and Casey Lane. Swantek and Ashanti Quiambao each chipped in on the ground with one rushing touchdown. Defensively, Kash (two) and Lauber (one) combined for three interceptions.
Wharton put up a tougher fight on April 21, responding to a 12-0 Durant lead after the first quarter with a touchdown in each of the next three quarters and by shutting the Cougars out in the second quarter. But Durant generated enough offense in the second half to maintain its lead when it mattered most and win, 25-19.
Kash led the Cougars with two total touchdowns (one receiving, one rushing). Lauber and Lane caught Brill’s other two touchdown passes as the senior quarterback threw for 217 yards and three picks while completing 24 of 30 pass attempts.
Bloomingdale, which entered the tournament as the second-seeded team, wanted revenge after taking a 13-2 loss to the Cougars in Bloomingdale on April 1. The Bulls got it in the form of a 19-0 shutout win for the 2A-District 6 title on April 22.
Durant generated 242 total yards of offense (189 receiving, 53 rushing) and recorded two sacks (by Emma Harnage and Regan Williams) and one interception (Swantek) on defense. But the Cougars couldn’t overcome six turnovers and the Bulls capitalized on that all night.
The Cougars finished the season with a 10-2 overall record. Brill finished her senior season with the third-highest total of completions (239) and the sixth-highest total of passing yards (2,130) in the state. Kash finished her last season with the third-highest total of interceptions (12) in the state.
