The girls’ flag football team lost their first-ever home game against the Menlo Knights, 14-36, on Tuesday night.
Menlo won the coin toss and the Bears’ defense took the field. Starting off strong, junior linebacker Ryland Caelius was able to pull several flags and turn the ball over to M-A. Despite multiple connections between junior quarterback Mae Kunihiro and junior wide receiver Elise Koo, the Knights still managed to regain possession and score. With a successful two-point conversion, the score became 0-8 in the early first quarters.
After the Bears got the ball back, sophomore running back Aryn Roodman had an impressive 12-yard rush, but an interception by Menlo forced the Bears back onto defense.
Despite strong defense from Caelius and Roodman, the Knights still found a path into the endzone, increasing their lead 0-14.
Caelius was able to intercept the Knights’ two-point conversion and return it for two points for the Bears, making the score 2-14 with 4:00 left in the half.
After Kunihiro connected with senior Addy McCombs, the Bears scored their first touchdown of the game. “It was like a little magic trick,” McCombs said. With a successful two-point conversion, the Bears were able to decrease the deficit to 8-14 at the half.
Both teams struggled to gain control of the field, the Knights pulled off a third touchdown and successfully completed their two point conversion, making the score 8-20.
The M-A defense was persistent in closing off options for Menlo, until the Knights found the window to score another touchdown. With 15:00 left in the game, the Knights pulled ahead 8-30.
While on defense, sophomore middle linebacker Atessa Gholamy tipped a ball away that was headed straight towards an open Knight in the endzone. Unfortunately, Menlo’s offense was quick to attack and scored a touchdown. Caelius denied the two-point conversion, resulting in a score of 8-36.
Even despite the score, the Bears continued fighting. Between a subtle handoff from Kunihiro to sophomore running back Isabelle Habibi, and with each of them charging it down the middle, the dominant duo managed to get the Bears to the fourth down, 15 yards until goal with 55 seconds left.
“Look Koo, look Koo,” Knowles said to Kunihiro seconds before the ball was snapped. Kunihiro threw the perfect spiral as Koo cut through her defenders. “We’d run that play a few times at practice and I was open every time,” Koo said. “This time, I had a defender on me so I did a little stutter step to get behind her, turned around and looked for the ball, and I saw it coming. I was ready.” Koo caught the ball inches before going out of bounds, making it a touchdown for the Bears.
Even though they failed to make the two point conversion, the Bears managed to bring the score back up 14-36.
“I think we did an amazing job and really exceeded our expectations,” McCombs said.
The Bears will play at Capuchino High School at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
