Santa Barbara High flag football dominated on both sides of the ball en route to a 33-7 win over Rio Mesa on Tuesday in Oxnard.
The Dons are now 5-0 on the young season and will look ahead to a rivalry matchup with Dos Pueblos next Tuesday at Peabody Stadium at 6 p.m.
The first Santa Barbara High touchdown was set up by a Maddy Stoll interception, which led to a 40-yard rushing touchdown by Elina Stump to go up 6-0.
Midway through the second quarter, the Dons extended their lead to 13-0 when Laila Hernandez connected with Shea Gannon for a 65-yard touchdown pass and Gannon hauled in the extra point,
That score held into the halftime locker room, but the Spartans came out of the break with a scoring drive to cut the deficit to 13-7.
Santa Barbara quickly responded when Hernandez and Gannon once again connected on a long touchdown, this one from 53 yards out. Stump caught the extra point to make it a 20-7 advantage.
After an interception by Vanessa Esparza, the Dons continued to pour it on with a 7-yard rushing touchdown by Hernandez. Later in the game, Lylee Harris rushed for a touchdown and Lena Fackler came up with an interception to seal the 33-7 victory.
Gannon also shined on the defensive end, sharing the team high in flag pulls with Eva Hervouet, with five apiece.
“We started off slow, which always seems to happen when we travel to Rio Mesa, but the players stepped up in the second half and competed at a high level,” Santa Barbara High head coach Travis Manach said.
Dos Pueblos 21, Westlake 19
The Chargers battled to a tight victory over a strong Westlake team on Tuesday in Westlake.
With the clock winding down and Westlake threatening to score the go-ahead touchdown, Dos Pueblos’ Alma Basave came up with a flag pull at the 2-yard line to secure the victory.
Ruby Streatfeild tossed a trio of touchdown passes in the win, with two going to Kindah Ahmad-Reda and one going to Brooklyn Hedricks.
Defensively, the Chargers totaled four interceptions as Hedricks, Ahmad-Reda, Basave and Jane Gibson all forced turnovers. Nya Ribbins recorded a sack and Makyla Watt came away with a safety, which proved to be the difference in the game.
