Adam Beadle is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication student assigned to cover Williams Field High School for AZPreps365.com.

Williams Field’s defense couldn’t keep up with Mesa Mountain View’s explosive offense in Thursday night’s 55-0 loss in 6A non-region flag football action.

The Toros, who entered the game just outside of USA Today’s girls flag football Super 25 watchlist, targeted the air attack heavily, tallying five first-half touchdowns courtesy of junior quarterback Tierah Metcalf, giving Mountain View a 34-0 lead at halftime.

Williams Field, which wasn’t able to move the ball past midfield in the first half, finally found positive offensive play in the second half, but failed to find the end zone. 

Unable to answer, the Black Hawks (1-3) fell to the Toros (3-1), dropping their third consecutive game.

One thing was evident to Williams Field coach Steven Brody after the loss: his team is young.

Very young.

“Because we're so young, we're still trying to put this team together,” Brody said. “I mean, I've only got five returning players from last year, so it's hard. You know, you're playing teams, and half the girls have been together.

“We were trying to develop with that last quarter. I mean, the fact that my young offense actually started to put this whole thing together and did the stuff that we're trying to do in practice (is a positive). As long as we keep our short game, the long game is going to come to us.”

Mountain View coach Rene Elizondo noted how young a team Williams Field is, but he knows they’re likely to be a threat in the future.

“I think with their class, they're so young that they're only going to get better, especially with how fast the sport is evolving,” Elizondo said.

Brody added he likes to have a challenge, such as Mountain View, early in the season because it gives him a chance to see his team be resilient, which occurred once Williams Field was able to cross midfield with just over seven minutes remaining in the third quarter.

“They're learning,” Brody said. “Everybody's trying to figure out their role on the team, and I think they're gonna get there.”

Brody said players like freshman quarterback Berkley Drake, who has started every game for Williams Field this season, and freshman wide receiver Tatum King, who led the Black Hawks in receiving, averaging 38.5 yards a game entering Thursday’s contest, are slowly getting acclimated.

However, senior rusher and wide receiver Nevaeh Mejia, one of the few returning players for Williams Field this season, has stepped up.

“She is the one who actually sparks that defense,” Brody said. “And I know she got frustrated because she missed so many of the sacks that she should have had. Took her gloves off and said, ‘Gloves are coming off, Coach, I'm going in the full hand.’ So she'll get there. But, yeah, she's our huge leader on that defense.”

In the next few days, Brody said he’s really going to be harping on the Black Hawks’ short game abilities before Williams Field takes on Cesar Chavez next Tuesday in its final game before a two-week break.

“We're going to start getting our quarterback to understand that we don't need the home run the whole time, and you can actually chunk it down the field and still make plays,” Brody said.