BOONSBORO, Md. – Brennyn Cronise had a senior moment on Wednesday.
She found herself talking to herself while trying to figure out what was the right path to follow.
It all worked out for this senior on the Boonsboro flag football team. … and she’s not at an age where she will forget about it.
In the final second – on a play that started with :01 on the clock – Cronise got something she could tell her grandkids about someday by sacking Smithsburg quarterback Rileigh Romberger at the Boonsboro 13 to preserve a 22-20 victory over the Warriors’ archrivals in a battle of two undefeated teams.
“This is a big rivalry. … Big win. … Senior night, too, and I’m a senior. So, this is crazy,” Cronise said almost breathlessly from excitement.
“It was so stressful. This is a school rivalry. It was just crazy. Honestly, there was one point I thought we weren’t doing this, but then I was like, ‘No, we’ve got this.’ And then…”
And then Cronise completed the play of the game, basically after the game was over.
Trailing by two points and starting a final drive from its 2, Smithsburg mounted a 12-play drive that covered 66 yards in the final 2:30 to get to the Boonsboro 13.
After an incomplete pass stopped the clock with :06 remaining, Romberger found Jill Malott – who already had two touchdowns – on Play No. 11, tight along the right sideline of the end zone. Malott seemed to have caught the winning touchdown but a defensive play by Mylee Hartman caused the incomplete call.
One second remained, and it was all or nothing. That’s about when Cronise heard her voice.
“It was just crazy. My coach (Chad Hartman) was like, ‘You got this. You’re gonna get them. You’re going to pull the flag … the last play … senior night. You got this.’ And I was like, OK, I got this. And then I fouled (Romberger during the incompletion). I was like, ‘Darn it.’”
On the final play, Smithsburg’s offense spread out to sell out. On the snap, Romberger was alone in the backfield, searching for a receiver. Cronise quickly closed and pulled the flag before Romberger could release the ball for the tackle to seal the victory.
“I saw her, and I was just like. ‘I just needed to get there.’” she said. “It was all just reeling through my head. ‘We have one second left. I need to do this. I got this.”
It closed the latest chapter in the budding rivalry – at least in this sport – in the third year of flag football in Washington County.
Smithsburg coach Charles “Sleepy” Burnett couldn’t fault his team for the near miss.
“I told the team that was on me,” Burnett said. “We called the play, a two-man route. I think the confusion was everyone else was just supposed to stay in and block … and they kind of went out. So that was on me. That was my fault. It was a miscommunication … we’ll learn to get better from that.”
But on the Boonsboro sideline, the Warriors were celebrating because Cronise did her main job.
“Brenn is just so fast. It’s unbelievable how fast that girl is,” said Coach Hartman. “And she never really rushed (the quarterback) before. She always played kind of defensive back. But once we saw the agility that she has and the speed that she has, it’s just amazing. Quarterbacks get flustered because she’s just so fast.
“(Smithsburg’s) hurry up offense gets to you and we were out of timeouts and they were out of timeouts. The good thing was, I had my best seven on the field. Brenn is our best rusher. Sarah (Mohler) rushes, too, but I dropped her back to play a bit more middle linebacker today. It gave us an opportunity to have one rusher. I didn’t think one rusher was going to get back there, but she definitely made the play.”
But Smithsburg did push it to the limit with its last drive.
After Boonsboro took the 22-20 lead on Mylee Hartman’s 25-yard pass to Lily Boyer, the two teams traded interceptions on the ensuing drives. Romberger was picked off by Hartman, who returned the ball to the Smithsburg 12.
Three plays later, Jenna Todd intercepted Hartman at the 2 on a third-and-goal pass from the 13 to start the final sequence.
“Romberger has command of the offense. We knew we had to get downfield,” Burnett said. “But, talk about the defense first. We were dead in the water. They had the ball and four shots to get in the end zone and we get a pick. So, then we had a chance to come back. We had our shots and we took our chances.”
The last shot missed, though, on the last chance.
Smithsburg took the early lead when Romberger hit Malott running down the right sideline for a 59-yard touchdown on the first play of its second possession. Romberger connected with Macy Orr on a two-point conversion for the early 8-0 lead at 2:59 in the first quarter.
Boonsboro answered with an 11-play drive, with Mylee Hartman scoring from the 1. Hartman hit Brooke Wilhide with a 10-yard conversion pass to tie the game at 8.
The teams traded scores to end the half.
Romberger’s tipped pass found the hands of Todd for a 3-yard touchdown, but Smithsburg failed on the two-point conversion at the 3:28 mark. Hartman countered with a 32-yard strike to Harmony Redding, followed by a two-point conversion pass to Mohler with 1:06 left for a 16-14 halftime lead.
Smithsburg regained the lead at 1:51 of the third quarter when Romberger found Malott on a 10-yard strike for her second TD. Another missed conversion left the score at 20-16, setting the stage for the dramatic finish.
“I told the girls from Day One that we circle this date on the calendar,” Coach Hartman said. “Smithsburg has battled us since football started in Washington County.
“I told them it was going to come down to a touchdown or a couple extra points, and it did. And, you know, I was telling them, an interception was going to turn the game around, but, hey, it was a big sack in the backfield. That’s huge.”
