{"id":227292,"date":"2026-03-30T18:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T18:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/227292\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T18:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T18:08:09","slug":"wnfc-opening-weekend-kicks-off-in-arlington-as-texas-elite-spartans-face-panthers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/227292\/","title":{"rendered":"WNFC opening weekend kicks off in Arlington as Texas Elite Spartans face Panthers"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARLINGTON, Texas \u2014 The Texas Elite Spartans opened the Women\u2019s National Football Conference season with a 14-6 win over the Mississippi Panthers on Saturday night, using a dominant second half to pull away after an early deficit.<\/p>\n

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Mississippi set the tone early behind quarterback Regena Jackson, who extended plays with her legs, including a scramble up the sideline to pick up key yards. The Panthers also moved the ball through the air when Jackson connected with Natalie Nicks along the sideline, with Nicks keeping a foot in bounds and securing the catch through contact to keep the drive alive.<\/p>\n

A defensive highlight helped Mississippi threaten to add to its lead. As Panthers Shardonay Jenkins closed in for a sack, the ball came loose, and Monique Larriue scooped it up and returned it upfield, nearly turning the takeaway into points before being stopped just short of a touchdown.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Texas Elite Spartans opened the Women\u2019s National Football Conference season with a 14-6 win over the Mississippi Panthers (KTXS\/Caitlin Leggett)<\/p>\n

The Panthers eventually cashed in when Jackson called her own number and ran in a touchdown to give Mississippi the early lead.<\/p>\n

Texas Elite answered with a big run from Tatyana Guidry, who took a handoff from Michelle Angel, burst through the middle, broke a tackle, and bounced the run outside before being brought down just short of the end zone.<\/p>\n

After halftime, the Spartans came out with renewed energy and leaned on Tara Thomas, who consistently found space in the middle of the field to push the offense downfield. Angel later tied the game by finding Elizabeth Landry in the end zone for a touchdown, swinging momentum to Texas Elite.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Panthers eventually cashed in when Jackson called her own number and ran in a touchdown to give Mississippi the early lead. (KTXS\/Caitlin Leggett)<\/p>\n

Mississippi tried to respond, but the Spartans’ defense nearly intercepted a pass from Angel toward the corner of the end zone.<\/p>\n

Texas Elite continued to wear down the Panthers with the run game, repeatedly going back to Thomas to move the chains. In the passing game, Angel connected with Summer McNeal on a tough catch in tight coverage, and McNeal followed it up with another reception in double coverage.<\/p>\n

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Thomas was initially stopped about a yard short of the goal line on a run to the left, but the Spartans went right back to her. She found an opening to the right and punched in the go-ahead touchdown to put Texas Elite in front for good.<\/p>\n

With key stops on defense and continued production on offense, the Spartans controlled the rest of the second half to secure the 14-6 victory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLINGTON, Texas \u2014 The Texas Elite Spartans opened the Women\u2019s National Football Conference season with a 14-6 win…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151],"class_list":["post-227292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}