In a game that was billed as a battle between the two best women's football teams in the country, the D.C. Divas rolled to a 27-7 victory over the visiting Pittsburgh Passion Saturday night in front of roughly 1,000 spectators at the Prince George's Sports & Learning Complex in Landover.
Divas' quarterback Allyson Hamlin connected with Nikki Williams and Donna Wilkinson on touchdown passes, and running backs Tiffany Mathews and La Shawn Foust each rushed for a touchdown as the Divas (3-0) kept their perfect record intact with a convincing victory against their arch rivals in the Independent Women's Football League. Pittsburgh (2-1) failed to score until fullback Laura Bracco plowed forward from 4 yards out with less than two minutes remaining in the contest.
"I've been coaching for 20 years and this is the best feeling that I've ever had," said Divas' first-year coach Keith Howard. "I really challenged our captains and they responded. We've got a very balanced team. They wanted top stop our running game and Allyson made some good throws. We got the best quarterback in the league and we've got great receivers. Our starters wanted the shutout, but I wanted to make sure the reserves had the chance to play."
Pittsburgh opened the game with a 12-play drive that netted no points. After struggling on their first two series, the Divas responded with an 11-play, 72-yard drive that lasted nearly six minutes and ended with Hamlin connecting with Williams on a 7-yard toss one minute into the second quarter.
Midway through the second quarter, the Divas took advantage of a short field and went 50 yards on six plays in just over three minutes. Hamlin connected with Williams and Tara Stevenson on 16-yard passes and then Mathews went off left tackle from 9 yards out to make it 13-0.
The Divas forced another short punt and went 56 yards on five plays and two pass interference penalties to take a 19-0 lead. Foust ran in from 4 yards out to score with 7.4 seconds left in the first half.
The Passion were hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty as the second half was about to begin, and were forced to kick of from their 25-yard line. Again the Divas took advantage of the short field and went 50 yards on eight plays and scored when Hamlin connected with Wilkinson on a 6-yard toss in the left corner of the end zone.
Pittsburgh countered with a 14-play drive that lasted almost nine minutes, but the Divas' defense didn't break. Pittsburgh quarterback Lisa Horton tried to thread the needle near the goal line and the pass was deflected and eventually landed in the arms of Divas' safety Alison Fischer in the end zone. The Passion finally got on the board late in the fourth quarter when Bracco capped a 10-play, 70-yard drive with a 4-yard run.