CHANDLER, Ariz. — The Hamilton Huskies weren't going to miss their shot in 2024.
In 2023, made it to the semifinals of the first-ever 6A girls flag football state tournament, but lost a close game to No. 9 Mountain View, who went on to win the state title.
This year, the Huskies returned to action and made sure that result would not be repeated, as they ran the table and won the 6A state championship, 21-17, over Red Mountain on Saturday at Chandler High School.
From the start of the season, Hamilton made sure the rest of the state knew they were coming for the championship. A 48-14 season-opening victory over Xavier Prep was followed by shutout victories over Campo Verde — last year's 5A champion and an eventual 5A semifinalist — and Williams Field, and then a 10-point victory over eventual 5A state champion Canyon View.
After that, the Huskies would only give up 13 points over the course of their final nine regular season games, seven of which were shutouts, en route to a 6A Premier region championship.
Due to their dominant play, the Huskies were given the No. 1 seed in the 6A playoffs, where they defeated No. 16 Higley, No. 8 Mountain Ridge, No. 4 Mountain View and No. 7 Red Mountain to claim the state title.
The 17 points Red Mountain scored in the championship game were the most scored against the Huskies this season.
The Mountain Lions took an early lead in the title game, thanks to a one-yard touchdown run by Didrika Valentin.
The Huskies tied the game on a 25-yard touchdown catch by Samaya Taylor-Jenkins. It looked like the Huskies were going to go into the half down 10-7 after a Red Mountain field goal, but with just seconds to go, Taylor-Jenkins scored on a 28-yard pass from Marlie Phillips to give Hamilton a 14-10 lead.
The Huskies expanded their lead in the third quarter as Phillips found Taylor-Jenkins once again, this time from six yards out to make the lead 21-10.
Red Mountain would make it close with a touchdown run from Sierra Mellish, but Hamilton would hold on to win the championship.
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