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PASSION SHUT DOWN THE COLUMBUS COMETS |
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The Pittsburgh Passion shut down the high-powered offense of the
Columbus Comets in their home opener on Saturday, securing a 6-0
victory. The Comets came in looking to put up big stats following
their 71 point output against Erie the previous week, but the game was
dominated by sound defense on both sides of the ball. After a big
first quarter, the Passion D put the clamps on Columbus running back
Shelley Gates and went into the locker room in a scoreless tie.
To start the second half, the Passion offense came out in a three back
set, featuring Lyndsi Hughes, who had a monster game amassing 102
yards on 22 carries. She picked up first down after first down and
kept the Columbus defenders off-kilter which allowed the Passion to
dominate the time of possession in the 2nd half.
The only score of the game came on a spectacular 34 yard touchdown
pass from QB Lisa Horton, hobbled with a hamstring injury, to TE Kate
Sullivan. Horton dropped straight back from the shotgun looking for
Sullivan down the sidelines. Sullivan's route took her to the Columbus
2 yard line, where she took in the pass and deftly avoided a would-be
tackler to cross the goal line with 5:48 left in the game.
The game seemed to be over a few plays later when LB Kelli Byers
separated a the Comets tight-end from a pass and made the interception
while the ball was still in the air. However, the Passion offense was
unable to hang on to the ball and Columbus had another shot to tie the
game with about three minutes left. The defense came up big, this time
in the form of DT JoJo Warner, who broke through the Columbus line at
the snap of the ball and chased down QB Crystal Davis, eventually
sacking her with one arm for a 15 yard loss.
The victory over Columbus evens the Passion record at 1-1 heading into
their home match up against Erie this Saturday, May 6th at 7:05 p.m.
Gates open at 5:30pm. |
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