MECHANICSBURG, PA — It had to end this way. It was the only way it could end—with Keira Quinn holding the ball aloft after another win.
Gwynedd Mercy Academy senior and the Maxwell Club national high school flag football Player of the Year faced some mild adversity in her last game—the Big 33 All-Star Flag Football tournament on Sunday between top all-star senior teams from Philadelphia (Eagles), Washington, D.C. (Commanders), Baltimore (Ravens) and Pittsburgh (Steelers).
For the first time all season, Quinn was looking up at the downside of the scoreboard. For the first time in the Big 33 all-star round-robin tournament, Quinn and her Eagles’ teammates were scored on. Quinn, and her Eagles’ teammates, responded—scoring two unanswered touchdowns and hung on at the end to threepeat as Big 33 champions, 21-13, over the Commanders at Cumberland Valley’s Chapman Field.
Quinn scored all three Eagles’ touchdowns, two rushing, and on an 18-yard pick-six in the final minute of the game that sealed the victory.
Quinn had a star-studded team around her that included North Penn’s Amani Keys, who had a team-high four receptions for 74 yards, including a 19-yard reception that led to the Eagles’ go-ahead touchdown, and Palumbo’s Reece Jackson-Roane and Bea Kaeli, whose game-changing interception midway through the second half helped put the Eagles up 14-7.
“On the (fourth-quarter) interception, a lot of schools that played against Gwynedd ran that play and we practiced against it,” said Quinn, who played the last game for her father, GMA head coach Tim Quinn. “When Amani was put in during the second half, I looked to her, and she’s such a big spirit on and off the field. When we got down (in the first half), we didn’t panic. We were only a point down, and we knew we would come back.”
Keira will be attending Montgomery Community College in the fall, help her father coach GMA’s flag team next spring, and begin looking at a college to continue her flag career.
“I think what I’ll remember most is all of the girls, the time we spent together and the memories we made,” Quinn said. “It is true, that was the first I ever trailed in a game this season. When we were down, the attitude was to go out and just play football.”
Keys was a difference-maker in the second half. Quinn began looking for her down the middle of the field and adding a boost to the Eagles’ offense. The Eagles team had not been scored on in the previous three tournament games as the only undefeated team.
“Our focus was not to get in our own heads, and my focus was to catch the ball, look it in and get yards,” said Keys, who will be attending Eastern University to play flag football. “I get to go as a winner and it was great connecting with all of the girls on this team. It’s probably what I will remember the most.”
As for Tim Quinn, he closed an amazing run with his youngest daughter Keira. But Quinn considers all of the girls who play for him his daughters.
Quinn recalled being the head coach at North Catholic in 2002 and 2003 when his teams finished a combined 2-22 in two years—and Quinn never thought he would lose a game.
“I did like the way this ended,” Tim Quinn said. “We were down, but I had no doubts we would be back. Last night, we honored a young man who played in the Big 33 who died in Vietnam. There are bigger things than winning and losing. I’m so glad to have players like Amani, who I have coached since she was 10. She was the leader of the team all weekend.
“I was happy to win a game like this, because we did come back, and we were tested, and we passed the test. I’m coming to create the way for women to coach flag football, and credit to the Washington staff and how they adjusted to us. I told the girls that the game would come we get tested—and we did. I’m happy we were tested and we answered.
“It’s what great teams do.”
It could not have ended any other way.
Scoring Summary
Commanders 7 6 – 13
Eagles 6 15 – 21
1st Half
Eagles – Keira Quinn (Gwynedd Mercy Academy) 1 run (pass failed), 16:43
Commanders – Adriana Ortiz-Mayorga (South County) 8 pass from Sophie Toole (Oakton) (Toole run), 10:42
2nd Half
Eagles – Quinn (GMA) 3 run (Amani Keys (North Penn) pass from Quinn), 16:43
Eagles – Quinn (GMA) 18 INT return (Reece Jackson-Roane (Palumbo) pass from Quinn), :51
Commanders – Toole 66 pass from Julia Clark (Northwest) (pass failed), :34
Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.