I-A FLAG FOOTBALL: Conversions key as Boulder City tops Cheyenne

If anyone knows how important extra-point conversions can be in flag football, it's Boulder City coach Chris Morelli, whose team won last season's Clark County School District final by a single point.

That's why Morelli always has spent additional practice time on the 5- and 10-yard plays.

The extra work paid off on Tuesday.

Kenadee Bailey scored on a 10-yard TD run and also caught the one-point extra point to give Boulder City a nine-point lead with 1:32 to go, and the Eagles held on for a 28-27 win over Cheyenne in the Division I-A CCSD final at Rancho High.

"The conversions in this league are one of the biggest things," Morelli said. "And you can see how many one-point games there have been just in the last few weeks and how people aren't converting. We spend a lot of time on our conversions. We learned from last year how important it is."

Jeanne Carmell completed 15 of 25 passes for 141 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 90 yards and a score for Boulder City (21-0), which converted all four of its one-point attempts in the game on passes. Cheyenne missed two of its conversions.

"Undefeated. Two seasons in a row," Carmell said. "It's great. If we wouldn't have gotten one of those extra-point conversions, it would have been a tie game and who knows what could have happened."

Carmell ran for a 6-yard TD run and threw two TD passes in the first half to give Boulder City a 21-7 halftime lead.

Cheyenne (13-8) fought back in the second half with the help of junior running back Angela Hammond, who rushed for 173 yards and a TD on 20 carries.

Hammond scored on a 23-yard run down the left sideline on Cheyenne's first possession of the second half to make it 21-13 with 25:58 to go. But the Desert Shields failed on the extra-point run, and it proved to be costly. Cheyenne still had its chances late, though, but couldn't pull through.

Carmell, who also played safety in the game, intercepted Cheyenne quarterback Liliana Cadacio at the Boulder City 19-yard line to end the Desert Shields' next drive with 17:42 remaining.

"I just wanted to win," Carmell said. "No matter how many points we got, even if we only had six points or seven points, it wouldn't matter. As long as we won, that's all that mattered to me. … Our defense was a little iffy at first, but we did good after. We picked it up (in the second half)."

Cheyenne pulled within 21-19 with 5:28 left on a 1-yard TD run by Brianna Torres, but missed a 10-yard conversion, which would have tied the game.

Cadacio threw a 55-yard TD pass to Ly'Brina Shelton and got the 2-point conversion quickly after Boulder City's final TD, but there was only 45.1 seconds to go.

The Eagles ran three straight running plays to earn the win.

"One point or 40 points, I don't care," Morelli said. "As long as the final is what it is and the girls played their hearts out. These girls don't get frustrated. They stay cool and levelheaded throughout. It's an air of confidence that they have."

Emma Jeppsen had three catches for 50 yards and a TD, and Aimee Finn had four catches for 27 yards and a TD for the Eagles.

Cadacio was 5-for-9 passing for 79 yards and a TD, and Girly Tambeagbor had seven carries for 45 yards for the Desert Shields.

Contact reporter Ashton Ferguson at aferguson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0430. Follow him on Twitter: @af_ferguson.