Courtney Hewmach of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Flag Football Team. {Reese Greiner}
The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School flag football team opened its season with an exciting week, highlighted by a season-opening victory and a strong showing in a tournament showcase.
The game also marked an emotional return for Courtney Heymach, who played her first flag football game since being diagnosed with Stage 2A Hodgkin lymphoma last June. After completing treatment four months later, Heymach returned to the field in a win for the Eagles.
Following a standout soccer season, Heymach scored one of the team’s four touchdowns. She said that from the moment she stepped back onto the field, she was determined to perform at the same level she had before treatment, and come back even stronger.
“After scoring for the first time after coming back, I was just purely filled with joy and emotion,” Heymach said. “I knew if I could come back and play sports to that same extent, I could do anything I set my mind to. I felt like I finally got my spark back and was so beyond grateful that I was even able to play again after going through something as significant as cancer.”
AB Puccio finished the game with 189 passing yards and threw a touchdown pass to Audrey Haltiwanger, while Elana Garzon added an interception on defense.
The Eagles then competed in the inaugural Girls Flag Football Showcase, where they matched their scoring output from the season opener in just one quarter, routing Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory School 40–0 to advance in the winners’ bracket. Puccio threw four touchdown passes, while Garzon added another through the air. Heymach, Haltiwanger, Garzon, Caitlin Taylor, and Emily Broch all found the end zone in the win.
MSD followed with a 13–0 victory over Coral Glades, as touchdown receptions by Haltiwanger and Garzon from Puccio powered the offense. The Eagles later fell 34–0 to Seminole Ridge High School, the defining state champions and seventh ranked team in the country, in the championship game before beginning the new week with a 12-0 win over McArthur High School. Puccio’s touchdown passes went to Garzon and Avery Shah.
MSD is now 4-1 and will play Cooper City High School in their next game on Thursday, February 26, at 6 p.m. The Cowboys are 1-2 this year, with their lone win coming against Charles W. Flanagan High School. The Eagles won 48-0 in the lone meeting a season ago.
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