Tytti Kuusinen ran for 130 yards and four touchdowns to lead Boston Renegades to a 42-24 victory over the visiting Pittsburgh Passion in the Women’s Football Alliance semifinal Saturday afternoon at Harry Della Russo Stadium in Revere, Mass.
Despite being held below their league-leading 53.3-point scoring average, the Renegades (8-0) captured their fifth consecutive WFA National Conference crown to earn a berth in the WFA Pro National Championship July 10 in Canton, Ohio, where Boston will go for its fourth WFA title.
After the Passion (5-3) took an early 6-0 lead, Kuusinen, of Finland, ran for a pair of first-half touchdowns to help the Renegades take a 14-6 halftime lead. She scored on Boston’s opening possession of the second half on a bullish 8-yard TD score for the hat trick and a 21-6 lead with 11:16 left in the third quarter.
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Brockton’s Chanté Bonds connected with Adrienne Smith, the WFA’s all-time leader in receiving yards, on an 11-yard TD strike to expand Boston’s lead to 28-6 with 3:11 left in the third.
Pittsburgh quarterback Alyssa George tallied on a 1-yard plunge to pull the Passion within 28-12, before Kuusinen tallied her fourth scoring run of the game on a 20-yard jaunt for a 35-12 fourth-quarter lead. Halfback Kate Falkowski, of Sandwich, Mass., closed out the scoring for the Renegades on a 16-yard TD catch-and-run with three minutes left.