Lennard High flag football team earns first final four appearance

TAMPA, Fla. - The Lennard High School flag football team has never been the standard when it comes to success on the flag football field. However, that started to change when Travis Combs took over as the Longhorns head coach back in 2020. 

"It wasn't a program that anyone wanted to have," Combs said. "They had won 28 games from 2006 to 2019."

But, the coach, who was born and raised in Ruskin, saw potential in the struggling program.

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"The plan was to just work, just work and the results will come," said Combs.

Those results came almost overnight as the Longhorns have nearly tripled their program's all-time win total over the last five seasons alone. 

"It has just been crazy," Combs said. 

Those results were justified this season, however, when Lennard qualified for the state final four for the first time in program history. 

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"We've only just been starting, so it is amazing to see we've gotten where we are now with the limited time that we've had," said senior wide receiver and safety Grayce Bird. 

Now, the Longhorns feel like their program is no longer part of the exception in the Bay Area flag football scene, but part of the rule. 

"We belong in that category, and I think we proved that to ourselves through our commitment, through our work and through our buy-in," Combs said. "We feel like this is our moment. We belong in the state semis."

The players, meanwhile, know that this season is just the beginning of a legacy they hope future Longhorns carry on. 

"It's just going to explode like flag football. The program is going to be so much better when I come back," said senior quarterback Abby Elwell. "So, it is really cool to know that I had a part in that."

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No longer is Lennard a program on the rise, rather, it is one that has arrived. 

Friday, the Longhorns play Wellington in the Class 2A State Semifinal at the Buccaneers training facility in Tampa. 

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