The girls flag football team beat the Los Altos Eagles 19-13 in the CCS Division I championship on Saturday afternoon. The program’s first section title was sealed by an interception with 16 seconds left.
After deferring possession to the second half, the Bears started on defense, and Los Altos wasted no time moving downfield with a mix of jet sweeps and deep passes. Senior rusher Isabelle Habibi pulled a flag behind the line for a loss, and the Bears’ relentless pass rush helped hold Los Altos on a third-down attempt.
Even so, the Eagles found the end zone on a long fourth-down pass and completed the one-point conversion to go up 7-0 with 9:02 left in the quarter.
M-A responded with a string of outside run plays, including a shifty sweep from senior wide receiver Mo’Rhai Balinton, while junior quarterback Eliana Clapp mixed in short passes and runs. Facing fourth and inches, junior running back Cassidy Thomas powered forward for a first down. However, the Eagles’ expert pulls stifled every short completion from M-A before they could run further.
On fourth down, a deep pass batted down in triple coverage handed Los Altos the ball with 3:37 left. The Bears’ ironclad defense forced a quick punt on the ensuing drive, ending the quarter with M-A down 7-0.
Clapp was sacked on the first play of the second quarter, but she bounced back by threading the ball through double coverage to junior Olivia Roberts for a first down. The drive stalled soon after, and the Bears punted with 8:26 left in the half.
Los Altos moved the ball back down the field as the Eagles’ quarterback kept picking up first downs with relentless runs, but M-A broke up a deep pass before it could turn into a big gain.
With 5:11 left in the half, pressure from the Bears’ pass rush forced a hurried throw, and senior linebacker Aryn Roodman capitalized with an interception. After a costly penalty on the return, Clapp found senior blocker Juliana Pandolfo, who juked past a defender for a significant gain to set the Bears up in scoring position.
Clapp then maneuvered the edge herself for a touchdown with 1:46 left, and Roberts made a diving catch on the conversion to tie the game 7-7.
The defense struck again on the next drive, as senior rusher Miya Yu earned a sack and Thomas snagged an interception, giving M-A the ball inside the 10-yard line with a minute left.
However, Clapp’s pass into the end zone was picked off and returned nearly the length of the field. Yu sacked the quarterback, but Los Altos tacked on another touchdown on a quick slant with five seconds left. The Eagles’ conversion attempt was no good, sending the Bears into halftime trailing 13-7.
“I think at halftime we just looked at each other. We knew this was our last time playing flag football [together], and we pushed through,” Habibi said. “We saw the score, and we knew it was make-or-break.”
The Bears brought a newfound intensity to open the third quarter, as a screen pass to senior running back Emma Loose earned a first down. Pandolfo torched the Eagles’ defense on a string of quick passes, carrying M-A to first and goal with 7:33 left.
After multiple pressured incompletions, the Bears faced fourth-and-goal from the seven-yard line. Clapp found Roberts, who juked a defender and crossed into the end zone. The conversion pass was broken up, evening the score at 13-13 with 5:51 left in the quarter.
“This was one of the best games we ever played,” Thomas said. “Even when we were down, we kept going.”
On defense, Balinton limited a completion with a quick tackle, and Habibi got a sack, leaving Los Altos facing third and 22. The Eagles punted, and Thomas turned a little pass into a big gain. Clapp scrambled outside for steady yardage, setting the Bears up eight yards from the end zone as the quarter ended tied 13-13.
M-A carried its momentum into the fourth quarter. After a third-down sack, Clapp faked a jet sweep, rolled out, and found sophomore Hannah Priest for a touchdown with 10:48 left. A bad snap ended the conversion attempt, bringing the Bears up 19-13.
M-A’s defense remained rock-solid, and Balinton came away with an interception with 7:53 left. The Bears couldn’t capitalize, as a fourth-down blitz pulled Clapp’s flag behind the line and gave the Eagles the ball at their own 10-yard line with 6:19 remaining.
The defense responded with back-to-back sacks, and a dropped pass by a wide-open Eagles receiver forced a punt. Sophomore wide receiver Bella Gormsen returned it past midfield, and the Bears marched to first and goal with 3:21 in the game.
The Bears’ quarterback sneak ended in a fumble, giving Los Altos the ball at its own half-yard line with just over two minutes left.
When play resumed, Los Altos needed to go the length of the field in two minutes, and a deep completion and a string of quarterback runs quickly moved the Eagles into M-A territory. Pandolfo nearly intercepted a pass with 45 seconds left, and with 23 seconds remaining, Roodman pulled the quarterback’s flag to stop a run just short of the end zone.
On the next play, the Bears’ pass rush forced a deep throw, and Gormsen came down with the interception with 16 seconds left to seal the 19-13 victory.
“Pure bliss. That was just the best moment ever,” Habibi said. “We’ve been waiting for it the whole game, and finally we made that big play to secure the win.”
“This was my last time playing for M-A flag football,” Pandolfo said. “I think I speak for all the seniors to say this is the best way possible we could have gone out.”
This concludes the season for the Bears.
Eliana Clapp and Miya Yu are journalists for the M-A Chronicle.
