Palo Verde spoils Silverado’s home opener with two late touchdowns

Palo Verde’s flag football players didn’t audibly respond to Silverado’s barbs or cheap shots.

They opted, instead, to respond with two second-half touchdowns to beat the Skyhawks.

Fair and square.

Panthers quarterback Alyssa Tygh threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Betsy Bellinger and ran for a 2-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter to lift the Panthers to an “ugly” 14-7 road victory on Wednesday evening.

“Today, we were just trying to grind it out,” Palo Verde coach Rick Eurich said. “We teach if you just keep grinding, you’ll find a way to make it work. That’s what happened tonight.”

Eurich was right. There was nothing pretty about the Panthers’ victory.

Tygh threw an interception in the first half, Palo Verde’s running game stalled and the Skyhawks took a 7-0 lead on a long scoring pass play.

The Panthers turned the tide midway through the third quarter, though, thanks to an interception by linebacker Grace Cashin. Tygh connected with Bellinger on the ensuing drive, and Eurich said the interception rejuvenated his team.

“We immediately thought, ‘This is our chance for our offense to score,’” Cashin added. “Whenever we get a pick, that’s huge. It stops the whole drive. It’s our turn to score now.”

Palo Verde forced another stop, and responded with a long, drive — one aided by multiple personal foul penalties on the Skyhawks.

“They said a lot of stuff,” Cashin said. “They were definitely dirty, and they said lots of mean stuff.”

The Panthers maintained their composure though, and, save for one holding penalty, subdued Silverado down the stretch.

“(Their trash talk) really revved us up,” Cashin said.

Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.