Pelham made history with a win over Mountain Brook in its inaugural flag football game, overcoming the first-game jitters with a showcase by Janiah Harris and a stout defensive showing.

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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

PELHAM – On a hot August night, the Pelham Panthers lined up excitedly behind a banner ready to run out on the Ned Bearden Stadium field with the cheerleaders in front of their adoring fans.

However, Aug. 25 was no ordinary hot August night. Instead of boys wearing helmets and shoulder pads behind that banner, it was girls with ponytails, protective headbands and three flags draping from their waists.

"It gives you chills, you know?" Pelham head coach Ronnie Clemens said. "I played in that moment, gives you chills. I coached 11-on-11 football for 30 years. That moment gives you chills, and then you get this one and it's the very first one. That's a whole different set of chills that I don't think I'll ever forget."

For the first time ever, Pelham High School lined up to play girls flag football. And while the weight of that moment was in the air, so was the support.

"Years from now, players will look back at the history of Pelham flag football and see your names as the ones who started it all," Pelham PA announcer Chris Honeycutt said. "So play with pride. Play with heart. Play for each other. And most importantly–enjoy this moment."

They didn't need much help enjoying it.

Pelham dominated the Mountain Brook Spartans 19-6 to win its inaugural flag football game, sparking a big celebration on the sideline as the Panthers delighted in their first victory as a team.

"First of all, I couldn't be more proud of the girls," Clemens said. "They've worked hard for five weeks, getting ready for this. There was a lot of times where they felt like, 'Hey, we're never going to be able to even catch a ball, much less win a football game.' They just stuck with us. All that credit goes to them."

Both teams had a bit of a slow start as they exchanged three-and-outs for their first three combined drives. After the Panthers punted for the second time, they quickly got the ball back thanks to Kimora Mitchell. She jumped a pass and picked it off before returning it near midfield.

That sparked Pelham's offense, and after getting their first-ever first down on the previous drive, quarterback Chloe Carter took a pair of draws to get into the red zone and earn another first down.

The next play saw them hit paydirt for the first time.

Carter caught a high snap and threw a short ball up the middle to Janiah Harris, who hit a spin move to get past the initial defender. She burst laterally to the sideline afterwards and strode down to the pylon, and another spin move later, she was in the end zone for the 6-0 lead with 22 seconds left in the first quarter.

The defense held strong for a second punt, and the Panthers went back to the well on their next drive.

After Carter got across midfield on a third-down keeper, she lobbed a ball to Harris on the sideline. Harris expertly high-pointed the ball and hit her stride, juking a defender during a 30-yard run into the end zone.

Harris caught a short ball on the ensuing conversion attempt to increase the lead to 13-0 with 7:33 left in the second quarter.

The Panthers defense kept the Spartans scoreless the rest of the half. Mountain Brook's line bit of momentum came from a late second-quarter interception, which came on a fourth-down red zone throw that effectively functioned as a punt.

Pelham would get close to the end zone on its first drive of the third quarter thanks to a Harris catch-and-run inside the 5-yard line, but the Panthers couldn't get further than that for a turnover on downs.

It wouldn't matter much though as Pelham's defense stunted Mountain Brook's best drive of the game to that point. Following a third-down conversion by the Spartans, Nyah Spencer read a pass to the sideline and grabbed it before running to the end zone with ease.

That took the Panthers' lead to 19-0, and Mountain Brook could only respond with a long touchdown pass with 1:45 left, giving Pelham its landmark first win.

Clemens credited his defense for holding the line for so long and sticking to their gameplan and scheme throughout.

"That goes back to the girls and how hard they worked," Clemens said of the defense. "We gave them a scheme and we've been practicing it, and we just wanted them to get out there and do a simple scheme and play fast, and they did. With the exception of a couple of times, the mantra was, 'Just keep everybody in front of you, pull a flag, fly to the flag, let's everybody attack,' and we did."

Clemens knew going into the year that athleticism would be his biggest asset on both ends of the field, whether it was Harris or Bailey Engels on the edge, Carter at quarterback or Mitchell and Spencer on defense.

"When we started talking about this, we started doing tryouts, you look around and that's athletic ability there," Clemens said. "We got it all over the field. You get the ball in somebody's hands, they're going to make somebody miss, and I've said it before, I like our speed against anybody."

Now that win No. 1 is in the books, there's only one next step–win No. 2.

Pelham's first chance at that comes on Tuesday, Sept. 1 with a doubleheader against the Gardendale Rockets at 6 p.m. and perennial powerhouse Spain Park Jaguars at 7:15 p.m. at Ned Bearden Stadium.

While the celebration continues, the work begins to study film and practice for their next two games. Clemens said the goal is to focus on getting better between now and next week and then keep stacking progress throughout the season.

"Like I told the girls, every other coach is going to be looking at that film, whatever mistakes we made, we got to fix it because they're going to try to capitalize on it," Clemens said. "And you just keep getting better. Week 1 to Week 2, the goal is get better. And we got two shots at it next week."

Andrew Simonson is the Sports Editor for the Shelby County Reporter and serves as the leader for high school, college and professional sports coverage in Shelby County. The Charlotte, N.C. native and Samford graduate started writing for SCR in Aug. 2020 as a freelancer and joined full-time as the sports editor in May 2023. He was named a finalist for 2025 Alabama Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association.