FOXBOROUGH- St. Mary’s scored on a late touchdown catch by Kaileigh Patterson to beat defending champion Leominster 18-13 in the second annual Girls Flag Championship at Gillette Stadium. 

Patterson, a sixth grader and the daughter of Spartans coach Terrell Patterson stole the show as she was one of the top performers of the evening. She opened the scoring in the championship game with a pick six and she sealed for St. Mary’s by scoring the game winning touchdown. 

After the game, the Pattersons talked about the win and the resiliency the Spartans showed throughout the evening.

“They are a scrappy, young bunch.” said Coach Patterson. “I want to tell you something, more than half the team is sixth, seventh and eighth graders. They are middle schoolers and they came to play. Outstanding job.”

The Spartans advanced to the championship game by beating Ayer-Shirley 19-0 in their first game of the night and then beating Fitchburg 12-6 in a nail biter. 

Leominster fielded their one and two teams. Leominster One beat Peabody in the quarterfinals and they beat Leominster Two 25-7 to advance to the final. 

After trailing 12-0 early in the second half of the championship game, the Blue Devils stormed back to take a 13-12 lead on touchdowns by Keira Phillips and Hailey Jimenez. Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, it wasn’t enough as the Spartans would mount a comeback capped off by an incredible one handed touchdown catch by Patterson just over the front left pylon to give the Spartans the lead for good. 

When asked about the catch, Patterson laughed and her response was a reminder of just how young this talented player is. 

“I didn’t even know I caught it!”

Sums up a great night at Gillette Stadium. A night that was another another step in hopefully making flag football a viable MIAA sport down the road.