State 4A champions – Lennard Flag Football completes the journey

By FRANCIS FEDOR
francisfotography@outlook.com

Lennard Longhorn Flag Football finished the 2026 season with a hard fought 12-6 win over the Park Vista Cobras in a raucous Buccaneer practice dome in front of thousands of family and friends. It is icing on the cake for head coach Travis Combs, who built a South Shore powerhouse at Lennard and gets the state championship trophy that just eluded the team in 2024 when they lost a one-point heartbreaker to Palmetto (Miami) on the very same field. It is the first state championship trophy in the history of Lennard High School. Coach Combs is taking the next step and will be the head coach at Indiana Wesleyan University. He will leave Lennard with a 96-18 record and the Longhorns first-ever state title.

Lennard advanced to the title game in a 39-19 rout over the Harmony Longhorns. Harmony got on the scoreboard first with a TD and took an early 7-0 lead. Lennard stepped on the field for its first possession with Hayden Schofield at QB as she has been for the state-title run. And as she has shown in the state playoffs, calmly and precisely, she worked the offense downfield, culminating in a TD to Willow Rager at the 11-minute mark of the second quarter to pull to 7-6. The defense asserted its dominance from there and changed the momentum of the game. Harmony was deep in Lennard territory, but senior captain Jocelyn Brush picked off a pass, the first of her three INTs, and took it the length of the field for the go-ahead score. On the very next drive, Brush stepped in front of a route and took it back just short of the end zone to setup Schofield for an easy score to jump out to a 20-7 advantage. The Lennard defense ended the third consecutive Harmony drive with another INT, this one from Stacey Reducindo, to put the Lennard offense back on the field, and Schofield found Hope Hensley for the score. Lennard added another TD to end the first half up 33-7, and the defense closed out the game, holding Harmony to one late score before the first of the weekend celebrations began. Schofield finished with 149 yards passing, and in a sport that features the passing game, Schofield rushed for an amazing 64 yards. Makiya Bradford scored two TDs, and Grace Valenzuela added a TD in the win.

The state final game matched up Park Vista, the #2 ranked team in FLA, and a #1 seed to open the tournament against Lennard, a team that entered the state playoffs on a three-game losing streak, all tough losses, which may have hardened the resolve of the Longhorn players. They were battle tested and ready for the moment, going on a magical run with a freshman at the helm to lead them with four wins to get to the state finals. In a game defined by the defenses on both teams, scoring was hard to find. The ever-steady Schofield did just enough to manufacture drives ending in scores. Rager and Mackenzie Walker were the recipients of Schofield’s passes for TDs. Schofield again used her legs to keep drives alive and run the clock,

collecting 57 rushing yards added to her 160 yards in the air. Schofield was named the game MVP for her contributions in the state playoffs.

Coach Combs and his staff have built a roster that should again be competitive next season. The team will lose eight seniors, including Brush, a key member of the defensive backfield. However, the team will be in great hands with QB Schofield and a strong receiving corps with Hensley, Valenzuela, Rager, Simpson and Walker. And the defense returns Jules Ellsworth and Reducindo among others and should again be in the hunt for another state championship.

Story or any parts of the story are copyright protected, including AI revisions, without permission of the editor. Full game gallery available for purchase at https://www.maxpreps.com/photography/photographers/ Florida-Francis Fedor Photography/Graphics Contact: Insta: FrancisFoto2020 Email: FrancisFotography@Outlook.com Phone: 202-683-9691