St. James Academy beat St. Thomas Aquinas 26-7 on Wednesday, Oct. 21, to claim the first KSHSAA-sanctioned girls flag football state championship in Kansas history.
Senior quarterback Emme Albright threw four touchdown passes for the Thunder in the title game at Shawnee Mission South, according to the Kansas City Star. The Lenexa school finished 12-1 on the season under head coach Matt Hightower, handing Aquinas its first loss of the year.
The championship was supposed to be played Saturday, Oct. 17, at the Scheels Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita. A truck crashed into a crowd at a nearby soccer field that afternoon, killing two people and injuring 10 others, according to the Wichita Eagle. The Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) paused the third-place game mid-contest and postponed both remaining games.
Cole Adrian, 6, and Nicholas Schafer, 35, both McPherson natives, died at the scene, according to Wichita police. The injured ranged in age from 5 to 68.
KSHSAA rescheduled the championship and third-place game for Wednesday night at Shawnee Mission South. In the resumed third-place game, Shawnee Mission South finished off a 33-6 win over Shawnee Mission West after leading 24-6 at the time of Saturday's stoppage.
In the championship, St. James and St. Thomas Aquinas, both private schools, squared off in what the Star described as an all-private school title match. Albright connected on four scoring throws to put the result out of reach.
The win gave St. James the distinction of being the first state champion in the sport's history in Kansas. Girls flag football became a KSHSAA-sanctioned sport this year. Kansas City metro schools produced several of the top programs in the inaugural season, according to the Star.
