The Valkyries knew it was going to be a special year, but the Pennsylvania team had something to prove heading into last weekend’s girls high school state championship.

“Between making the state semifinals the last two years and losing, and then thinking we had the fall 7s championship in the bag – and getting knocked out in the first round – we had some extra motivation heading into this weekend,” Valkyries coach Jesse Richter said. “The girls were not going to let anything slip through their hands.”

The Valkyries entered the Pennsylvania state championship as the number one seed and took on #4 Doylestown in Saturday’s semifinals.

“We knew Doylestown was the dark horse,” Richter said. “The last time we played them, they forfeited because they didn’t have enough players. And their best player – Sophie Pryz – had been injured until the last two weeks of the season. Recently, they’ve been playing very well – beating Downingtown and State College – so they were question marks for us.”

The Valkyries bolstered its backs defense in preparation for Dolyestown, which won the fall 7s championship and boasts lots of speed and confident ballcarriers. Dee Hubay, who had been moved from center to flanker for her tackling ability, rejoined the backline to reinforce the defense, and the switch ended up a good move. Pyrz had also moved from fullback to flyhalf, a fortunate swap for the Valkyries.

“We were pleased to see her there, because it was the outside speed we were worried about,” Richter said. “We have good inside speed – good flankers and Sylina Flowers at inside center – and you can’t get past her. Sophie had a few good runs – they got one try on us – but we shut it down.”

The game was a little stop-and-go, with a lot of penalties and infringements called, and that affected both sides’ flow. Maya Grassi dove over for the first points of the game, but Doylestown tied it up, and there the scoreline sat into the second half.

Captain Zoe Rex set up the go-ahead points. The senior flyhalf and Life commit saw the Doylestown fullback out of position and sent a chip kick into space. Julia Kemmer chased it down, offloaded to Flowers (also a Life commit), who hit fullback Rebecka Wilson running on. Eventual MVP Flowers got the final pass and dotted down. Grassi added the conversion for the 12-5 lead. As the game wore down, a series of penalties put Doylestown on the five meter, but the defense held.

Downingtown awaited on Sunday, but the team was without difference-maker Kira Garnett, who suffered an injury on Saturday.

“We already felt confident after beating them 25-0 two weeks ago, but now they were missing their best player,” Richter said. “They were tough and never gave up, but we were able to overwhelm them. Once we got some multiple phases going - which we weren't able to do on Saturday - we were able to stretch out the defense, and then switch fields quickly once the holes opened up. It worked well for us.”

The Valkyries won 30-0 on tries from Amelia Poulin, Alexa Huzar, Kemmer, and 7^th grader Anasia Martinez, and Grassi added two conversions and two penalties.

The state championship would have been a great ending to the season, but the Valkyries have the opportunity to right one more wrong. Sevens practices begin tomorrow as the team looks toward the CRC 7s in late May. With nine seniors bidding farewell this year, a CRC 7s title would be a great end to an already momentous year.