Dos Pueblos flag football had its stellar season come to a close with a 20-0 loss to JSerra Catholic in the CIF-SS Div. 1 Semifinals on Saturday at Scott O’Leary Stadium.
The Chargers and Lions battled early, as the game was knotted up at 0-0 through the first half. However, top-seeded JSerra pulled away with 20 unanswered points in the second half to punch its ticket to the CIF-SS Div. 1 Finals next Saturday.
Dos Pueblos ends its season with an impressive overall record of 24-3, including a co-Channel League title in the regular season.
The first half was a display of dominant defenses, as both sides came away with several interceptions and turnovers on downs.
The Chargers started the game on the defensive end, but quickly got the ball thanks to an interception by Ruby Streatfeild.
The Dos Pueblos offense was unable to capitalize on the next drive, but the defense was there once again as Kindah Ahmad-Reda came away with an interception to regain possession at the 6:54 mark.
However, once again the Chargers were stopped by the stout JSerra defense. The 0-0 tie held through the first quarter, with JSerra hauling in its first interception of the day with less than a minute left.
The back-and-forth action continued to open the second as Dos Pueblos got an interception from Carly Letendre with 10:18 to go in the half.
It was deja vu all over again for both teams throughout the second quarter, as JSerra and Dos Pueblos each got another interception in the final minutes to send the game to halftime scoreless.
The Charger interception came in the endzone with eight seconds left courtesy of Letendre for her second of the game.
After a slow start to the second half, JSerra finally broke the scoreless tie with 6:49 left in the third on a passing touchdown to take a 6-0 lead.
Later in the half, the Lions hauled in an interception and returned it all the way back to the endzone for a pick-six and a 13-0 lead with three seconds left in the third quarter.
On the very next play from scrimmage, the JSerra defense came up with yet another interception to set up its offense with great field position heading into the fourth.
The Lions took advantage, scoring just 11 seconds into the final quarter to extend the lead to 20-0.
That lead held for the final 12 minutes of play, as both defenses tightened their screws to give JSerra the semifinal victory.