(OSSEO, MN) In a Saturday night women’s tackle football nail biter that had 77 combined points registered and a one-point differential displayed on the scoreboard heading into the final quarter, the St. Louis SLAM’s most significant number achieved late was “0”…as in “zero points surrendered.”
St. Louis outscored the Minnesota Machine in the fourth quarter, 12-0, en route to its 50-39 victory at Osseo Senior High School that improved the team’s record to 3-1 overall in the Women’s Football Alliance (WFA).
Photo Credit: St. Louis SLAM
The game saw the locals’ multiple layers of offense highlighted as four different SLAM receivers snagged scoring passes in the 11-point win while quarterback Jelani Kelly notched three touchdowns via keepers.
St. Louis raced out to the early edge with Kelly’s 33-yard scoring pass to Jessica Foote and posted a 7-0 lead after Taylor Hay’s successful kick afterwards.
That would be the first of three SLAM touchdown passes in the first quarter. St. Louis widened its lead to 13-7 later in the stanza as Vicki Nichols snagged her third touchdown reception of the season, a 75-yard strike from Kelly.
After Minnesota scored and sliced the SLAM’s lead to 13-7, St. Louis receiver Keyonna Smith posted six with her third grab of the year, a 38-yarder from Kelly, to push the lead to 19-7. Hay kicked the PAT to make the differential a baker’s dozen.
In the second quarter, a Minnesota scoring drive was halted by an interception from SLAM veteran Robin Morrow. St. Louis capitalized on the miscue and pushed its lead to 26-7 with Kelly’s 58-yard scramble into the end zone.
Photo Credit: St. Louis SLAM
To its credit, the Machine charged hard as the quarter progressed and posted back-to-back scores, narrowing the Missourians’ lead to five points, 26-21.
With 7:06 left in the half, SLAM rookie Chelsea Clay collected her first touchdown of the year, a 45-yard catch from Kelly, to extend St. Louis’ lead to 32-21.
Minnesota countered with six prior to halftime and trailed, 32-27, at intermission. The Machine’s momentum carried over into the third quarter and flipped the scoreboard, 33-32, early in the frame.
The solo-point lead was short-lived as the SLAM’s Kelly scampered into the end zone on a 15-yard quarterback keeper, which gave St. Louis a 38-33 edge.
Minnesota scored later in the quarter to regain the advantage and make the encounter, once again, a one-point affair. The game was a 39-38 hand-wringer in favor of the Machine heading into the final stanza.
St. Louis went into lock down mode defensively in the fourth quarter, and in the process, collected a pair of touchdowns in order to claim victory.
Kelly notched her third touchdown run of the contest, a 16-yarder, resulting in the game’s fourth lead change of the half and a 44-39 advantage for the SLAM.
Hay later continued the St. Louis surge with a five-yard touchdown plunge, her fifth of the season, to extend the SLAM’s lead to 50-39 with 5:23 left in the contest.
Afterwards, the SLAM’s defensive core continued its fourth-quarter shutout. By holding the Machine to a goose egg in the final frame, St. Louis notched the 11-point duke, snatched its third win of the season, and improved to 2-1 in the WFA’s Great Plains Division of the American Conference – Midwest Region.
The SLAM returns home for its next contest, a battle with Derby City Dynamite (0-3), this Saturday at Lindenwood University in St. Charles (209 South Kingshighway St.) Kickoff for the game, promoted as “SLAM Hall of Fame Night,” is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
Tickets for the game are $12 and children 10 and under get in free with a paying adult.
For more information on SLAM football, go to stlslam.com.
(Story constructed via the official Facebook pages of the St. Louis SLAM and the Minnesota Machine.)
By trade, he is a six-time, regional Emmy Award-winning news videographer/editor for KTVI/KPLR-TV. By hobby, he is a writer for Arch City Media, dating back to February 2014. Emphasis is on featuring and promoting local women's sports, but will cover anything that is not reported by traditional media outlets. Also a contributor to local concert reviews.
