Sports

Service, Dimond to battle for CIC flag superiority

Two flag football teams that made history earlier this season will meet Friday to make a little more.

Dimond and Service used strong defensive efforts in Wednesday's semifinal victories to advance to the Cook Inlet Conference championship game. Dimond stopped East 21-6 at Dimond Alumni Field and Service blanked South 12-0 at Service.

The Lynx and Cougars, both 15-1, will play for the title at 4 p.m. Friday at Service.

A win by Service would mark the first flag football championship for the Cougars. A win by Dimond would make the Lynx the first team to win three straight titles since the CIC playoffs started in 2006.

The last time the teams met, Service made history by snapping Dimond's winning streak at 42 games, the longest stretch of success in CIC history.

Both teams look forward to the rematch, according to the head coaches.

"Absolutely," Service coach Jason Calderera said. "What a great opportunity, to be in a championship game."

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"Absolutely," Dimond coach Kathleen Navarre said. "It's nice that it's going to be the team with the best record that's going to win the title. We both have one loss. We want to avenge that one loss and decide who the best team is (without) using the tiebreaker."

Dimond and Service both ended the regular season with 13-1 records, but Service earned the top seed for the playoffs based on the point differential in two regular-season games against Dimond.

Service beat Eagle River and Dimond defeated Chugiak in Tuesday's first round, and each team rode its defense in Wednesday's semifinals.

Dimond trailed early against East, which claimed a 6-0 lead on Sierra Rosenzweig's 15-yard run in the second quarter.

But Dimond's Mia Wilson broke up East's point-after conversion pass, and two plays later Tiffany Jackson raced 71 yards for a touchdown and a 7-6 Dimond halftime lead.

After a scoreless third quarter, Lynx quarterback Nikki Forrey rushed three yards for a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.

A couple of big stops by the Dimond defense stymied East on the ensuing possession, and once Dimond got the ball back Jackson broke loose for another long touchdown run, this one a 36-yarder.

Jackson finished with 195 yards on 19 carries and Forrey added 96 yards on 16 carries. Defensively, Jackson and Neno Martinez each intercepted passes, Shameah Keslia-Jones racked up nine pulls and Celina Abello added eight pulls, two for losses.

"The defense kept putting the ball back in our hands," Navarre said. "The defense never got rattled. The offense got a little rattled. The semifinal is always a tough game. The championship you're not as nervous, because you're there."

No one has more championship game experience than the Lynx, who have won four of the eight CIC titles awarded since 2006. Dimond has beaten four different teams to earn titles -- South last year, West in 2012, East in 2010 and Bartlett in 2009.

Service has never won a CIC flag football championship. Its only title game appearance came in 2007, a 33-7 loss to Chugiak.

"We've been in the semifinals the last two years but haven't been able to get over the hump," Calderera said. "We finally made it."

Service advanced with two Julia Miknich touchdowns and a tough defense.

Miknich gave the Cougars a 6-0 lead with 15-yard pass to Zoe Bailey in the second quarter, and her one-yard quarterback sneak made it 12-0 in the fourth quarter.

South's best chance to score came at the end of the first half when a pass to the one-yard line was foiled when the Wolverines fumbled the ball.

"That was the only play when they came close (to scoring)," Calderera said. "Zoe and Lahronda (Daniels) had a great night pulling flags. The whole unit did a good job shutting down South's offense."

Bailey and Daniels are part of a senior-laden lineup that has never made it to the championship, but their coach has title-game experience. Calderera coached the Service boys to several state championship games before retiring as a tackle football coach and joining the flag football staff.

"It's great to be here with this team," he said. "There's a lot of seniors on this team. My daughter's a senior on this team."

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