Ebinger, Beasley and Coonley win flag football and soccer SCORE! championships

By Dominic Scianna

A triple-header of CPS SCORE! Elementary games convened on Chicago’s Southside at Rockne Stadium on Thursday, May 23. The SCORE! Acronym (Sports Can Open Roads to Excellence) is a CPS sponsored initiative that offers exciting sports programming for elementary students in 5th through 8th grades. See recaps of the three title games below.

CPS SCORE! Girls Soccer City Championship

The night started out with the 7th-8th grade CPS SCORE! Girls Soccer City Championship in a battle between the Ebinger Eagles and the Azuela Aztecs. Katherine Roseberry stole the show for Ebinger scoring all three goals for a hat trick in the Eagles’ 3-1 victory over Azuela.

The Aztecs, coached by Edelynn Cayas and Gina Soria, put up a solid effort and tied the game just before the first-half break on a goal by Arianna Rivera to knot the score at 1-1. Azuela goalie Sophie Gonzalez made some key saves to keep the Aztecs in the game in the first half.

Jeremy Frasor’s Ebinger Eagles squad came out and played stellar defense in the second half in front of goalie Allison Wade for the win as Roseberry tallied two goals to avenge a loss to Alcott Elementary School one year ago in the 2023 CPS SCORE! title game.

“We lost last year (in the championship) so we were into it this year and really wanted to get back and win it,” said Roseberry, “It feels special for the players returning from last year. We’re all from the same school and we’ve played together before so that really helped because we have very good chemistry.”

CPS SCORE! Girls Flag Football City Championship (7th-8th grade)

Tia Oliver quarterbacked Beasley Grammar School to a 39-21 victory over National Teachers Academy (NTA) in the 7th-8th grade CPS Girls Flag Football Championship Game.

The Bees put up 22 points in the first half as Oliver connected through the air with Zoey’marie Smith, Taylor Miller, Kyliee Bell, and Marley Rambert for touchdown passes in the win.

NTA mounted a comeback in the first half behind their signal caller Charde Bogan who put up 15 points and connected with Amber Nash and Anaiyah Lewis for TD passes to keep the game close.

“We had to win, there was no other way,” said Oliver. “My receivers (Zoey, Taylor, Kyliee, and Marley) did a great job today. This is my first time playing football and it’s been great for me because I needed to do something (positive) for me. Now football is my favorite sport.”

CPS SCORE! Boys Flag Football City Championship Game

Capping off the triple-header was the wildest and craziest game of the day pitting Coonley and Sutherland Grammar Schools. The Cougars of Coonley survived a penalty-filled final moments of the CPS SCORE! Boys Flag Football Championship Game to earn a thrilling 60-59 victory that wasn’t decided until the games final play.

Coonley quarterback Khalil Patel threw the go-ahead touchdown to Jacob Siefert for the final points of the game, but fans were treated to an emotional roller-coaster of an ending as the Cougars defense kept Sutherland out of the endzone several times including on the game’s final play. Other stalwarts for the Cougars were Cole Christian, Ethan Chan and Brooks Beeson.

The Bulldogs of Sunderland were led by quarterback Robert White and his receiving core of Drew Rice, Amari Brown, David Brown, and Ayden McDaniel. Sunderland took the lead late in the game with 39 seconds to play on a TD and 2-point conversion before Patel and Siefert’s heroics won the game.

“We like to get our best guys on the outside and trust me to make the throws,” said Patel. “On our last touchdown, we did an isolation play with our best receivers (Christian and Beeson) taking their safeties completely out of the play. Then, we had our fastest guy (Siefert) on the sideline, and it was basically a backyard football play that got him open in the endzone.”

Sunderland had a last chance to win, or as it turned out, four chances to win due to multiple penalties in the closing seconds, but they could not score the winning tally as Coonley thwarted their attempts to get into the endzone.

“I didn’t play my best game but our offense scored enough points, and our defense got us the win with some big stops at the end of the game,” noted Patel.

The Coonley Cougars were coached by Nester Teruel and Sunderland Bulldogs coaching staff included Kyle Bear and Zach Martin.

For more information on CPS SCORE! elementary results, feature stories, and program schedules visit the CPS sports website at www.CPLAthletics.com.