The Texas Elite Spartans kicked off the Women’s National Football Conference 2022 season on the road against the Kansas City Glory and came away with a massive 35-0 victory. The Elite Spartans are back-to-back IX Cup Champions and set the stage for another run at the title early in the season.
The Elite Spartans set the game’s tone from the first snap and were unrelenting throughout the contest.
Kansas City opened the game going three-and-out and had an opportunity to give their defense a chance at a stop, but a tremendous punt return by Texas wide receiver Liz Landry returned the kick to the Kansas City 33-yard line.
On the very first offensive play of the season, running back Destanie Yarbrough took an inside hand-off and busted through the heart of the Glory defense, rumbling for the opening score.
For the Elite Spartans players, the score was more than just points on the board; it was also a moment to salute former offensive line coach Billy Hughes who passed away last August.
“It’s hard to not get emotional talking about it,” said Spartans center and current offensive line coach Elizabeth Jenkins in an interview with The Dallas Express. “We decided that after the first touchdown that was scored, everyone would run to the end zone and take a knee and put one up for Billy and let him know that he was still with us. For it to be a run play — and it was a dive play, which is supposed to be a short-yardage play — it was just everything.”
After the hot start, the Elite Spartans failed to capitalize on several opportunities and struggled with snaps and errant passes, which Jenkins attributed to a brand-new game ball. At least one snap in the second quarter sailed over quarterback Brittany Bushman but was fallen on by the Elite Spartans to hold possession.
After switching to a more-worn ball, the Elite Spartans’ offense began to click. Late in the second quarter, Bushman found the end zone with a slant pass over the middle to wide receiver Maria Jackson to raise the score by 13 after the extra point attempt was blocked.
Texas received the second-half kickoff, and once again, Landry had a monster return, taking the ball down to the Glory 23-yard line before being knocked out of bounds.
Bushman made a rare mistake after getting the ball inside the 10, hanging a pass over the middle of the end zone, where Kansas City’s Patricia Stevens picked it off. Still, the Glory could not move the ball against a stout Elite Spartans defense.
The ensuing drive saw the Texas offense start to take advantage of the defense’s focus on shutting down the run game by getting the receivers involved. Bushman connected with Brittany Satterwhite for a big gain mid-way through the third.
Satterwhite is playing for the first time in 5 years in memory of Coach Hughes. Jenkins said that having Satterwhite on the field again is like playing with cheat codes.
The Elite Spartans also benefit from the return of Rasan Gore, who missed last season while recovering from shoulder surgery.
On the same drive that saw Satterwhite’s significant gain, Bushman connected with Gore on a back-shoulder fade route for the game’s third touchdown. Later in the third, Bushman hit Landry in heavy traffic in the end zone for the fourth score of the game, then immediately completed a two-point conversion to Deana Simmons-Guidry to go up 28-0.
The Glory earned another takeaway in the fourth, stripping the ball from Texas, but it was all for naught as the first offensive play after the turnover was fumbled right into the waiting arms of Elite Spartans defenders.
On the next play, the Elite Spartans added the icing on the cake with a trick pass play that saw Gore hit a streaking Satterwhite wide open in the end zone. The successful extra point gave the Elite Spartans the final score of 35-0.
The Texas Elite Spartans will host the Houston Heat for the first home game of the season on April 9. Houston lost in their opener 26-6 against the Mississippi Lady Panthers. The game will kick off from Lewisville High School at 7 p.m. central time.