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The D.C. Divas saw their bid for a perfect season come to an end on Saturday in Round Rock, Texas, as they lost to the Kansas City Tribe, 21-18, in the Independent Women's Football League Championship game.

The Divas (10-1) were flagged for 150 yards in penalties in the first half and another 100 in the second half.

"I didn't argue any of the calls," said Divas' coach Keith Howard. "Officiating, like weather and injuries, are part of the game and I'll never use that as an excuse. We probably finished the game with three times as many penalties [as Kansas City].

Early in the second quarter, Allyson Hamlin connected with Shara McNeil on a 26-yard scoring toss to give the Divas a 7-0 lead. But the Tribe answered with a long scoring drive that ended with a touchdown toss from quarterback Jennifer Schmidt. The Divas entered the game with a league-high 40 quarterback sacks and got to Schmidt four times, but the Tribe still managed to score on three long drives.

D.C. started the second half with a long drive that ended with a 27-yard field goal from Kathryn Hemlock. Kansas City then countered with two touchdowns. The Divas answered with a long drive that ended with a 4-yard run by Rachele Pecovsky-Bentley, who also added the two-point conversion with 2 minutes, 44 seconds remaining.

The Divas attempted an onside kick, but weren't able to recover the ball. They had the Tribe stopped on a third-down attempt, but the Divas were flagged for another penalty, and Schmidt was able to take a knee on two consecutive snaps to run out the clock.

"We ran the ball well and Allyson was dead on," Howard said. "Rochelle came in late and gave us a big lift. We got close. We got to their 4-yard line in the fourth quarter and turned the ball over. To their credit they ran the ball out of there and forced me to use a timeout. The players did everything we could have asked of them. [Kansas City] just executed more plays than we did – period."

The Divas, who joined the IWFL in 2007, were trying to win their second league title in four years. In 2006, the team captured the championship in its last year in the National Women's Football Association. The Divas, who play home games at the Sports & Learning Complex in Landover, completed their 10th season with Saturday's game.

"I feel bad for our players, especially our veteran players who came back just for this," Howard said. "We had a good fan group that traveled down to Texas to see them play. I wish more fans would come out and watch them play. They play very good football. The Divas are just in a different league than most teams. We just came up three points short."

E-mail Ted Black at tblack@gazette.net.