Week 13 of the Digicel Premier League at the Ed Bush field was all about postseason positioning.
With the playoffs coming up for both the women’s and men’s divisions, teams are fighting hard to not only secure a spot, but improve their seeding. That sentiment came to the fore in the game of the day, featuring the Island Heritage Predators against the Burger King Panthers. In their earlier match-up this season, the Panthers claimed a 26-20 victory but it would be a different story this time around.
Juggling two quarterbacks, the Predators did their usual rotation between Jordan Stubblefield and Barrett Edri. Burger King were led by their main QB, Chris Lucas, but star versatile player Glenn Duran Jr. would suffer an injury early in the first half and sit out the rest of the game. The Predators struck first before halftime with a touchdown pass caught by Baron Solomon. In the second half, Burger King rose up to score twice with touchdown passes caught by Ed Pallot-Rosa.
Island Heritage featured great catches by Will Peguero Jr. but were down 14-12 late in the game. The Panther defense, led by Paul Chin and Brendon Malice, would tire and allow Edri to march his team down the field and find Peguero Jr. in the end zone for the winning score. The Predators would win, 18-14, and the current No. 3 seed will now end its regular season campaign against the KPMG Sharks. Burger King suffered just their second loss of the season and dropped to second place. Up next is the dms West Bay Hellcats in a battle for the No. 1 seed.
The Hellcats are coming off an unexpected scare, narrowly beating the Cox Colts, 7-3. Cox may be out of the playoff picture but the Colts led most of the game, 3-0, on a field goal by Terry Ballard. The dms offense was plagued by penalties and a determined Colts defense featuring Tariq Myles and Sonny Powell. West Bay’s lone score came after Jamal Anderson made an interception and got down to the 5-yard line before Oliver Parker ran the ball into the end zone on the next play. Nick Bush would convert the extra point kick.
On the women’s side, top teams the Domino’s Lynx and the Androgroup Killa-Panthers squared off to secure their playoff seeds. Keisha Solomon stepped in as QB once again for the Lynx while Androgroup adjusted for the loss of two players, Janique Sampson and Gillian Roffey, who have returned overseas for school.
The Killa-Panthers did get a boost with the return of Heather Roffey, limited to just two games due to a knee injury, with QB Christina Hefner playing well early. Receiver Jen Cotarelo frustrated the Lynx defense and grabbed Androgroup’s lone touchdown.
Ultimately, Domino’s marched on to a 12-6 win. Keisha Solomon said the victory – which resulted in the No. 1 seed and a first round playoff bye – is just a small step toward a bigger prize.
“Overall, I feel we played a good game, despite our offense not executing to our full potential,” Solomon said. “Defensively, we’re quite strong, but our offense still needs to step it up. There’s still a lot of work to do if we want to take home the trophy.”
Androgroup are left with the No. 2 seed while the Anytime Fitness Wolverines ended up in third place after a 0-0 draw with the Caledonian Killa B’zzz. While QB Ellen Downey was her usual poised self for Caledonian, Wolverines QB Jahzenia Thomas would leave the game with a knee injury and force Nekita Saintvil to head the offense. Both teams executed well on defense with players Amaris Smith and Kathy Miller standing out for the B’zzz. After 40 minutes of scoreless action in regulation, neither team could break through in overtime. Next up for the Wolverines are the sixth seed CrossFit 7Mile Scorpions.
CrossFit are coming off a 12-0 win over the Lady Sharks, who were without main QB Bobeth O’Garro. Scimone Campbell stepped into the pocket for the Sharks but was plagued by many dropped balls. Scorpions QB Jessica Pawlik threw well, finding Cassandra Bodden and Maggie Ebanks in the end zone. Cassandra Bodden says the win came down to great work from the linemen.
“I feel our defense played hard and our offensive line stepped out the give our QB time,” Bodden said.
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