Make Your Mark: Standouts from Red Mtn bracket at flag invitational

By Mason Byers

Staff Writer

Red Mountain's Cadence McCanless was a standout performer on the first day of the Make Your Mark Invitational. (Mason Byers/Staff)

The growth of flag football continues to rise in Arizona, as the first in-season tournament is underway.

The Hypamark Make Our Mark Invitational kicked off Thursday and it was full of high-level flag football play across Arizona. Four teams were in the Red Mountain bracket: Perry, Mountain Pointe, Eastmark and Red Mountain.

All four teams played against each other once during their tournament pool play.

Red Mountain finished first in its part of the bracket, and went undefeated.

Eastmark finished second going 1-1-1. Mountain Pointe finished third going 1-2. Perry finished fourth going 0-2-1.

There was a lot of great action from all four teams in the Red Mountain bracket, including some of Hypamark's day-one standouts.

Those include two Red Mountain players, senior Trisha Stine-Groves and junior Cadence McCanless. Stine-Groves sealed a victory over Eastmark with a late-game rushing touchdown to win 7-0. McCanless had multiple crucial catches in crunch time and even snagged an interception which she took back for six over Perry in a win.

Eastmark's standout player was sophomore Kinsley McCarty, who played on all three sides of the ball for the Firebirds. She had touchdowns in every game and was crucial in the Firebirds' win over Mountain Pointe.

Bracket play takes place on Saturday, where every team will play in a single-game elimination bracket based on their seedings.

Here's a look at the brackets.