A dramatic touchdown and one-point conversion with 18 seconds left on the clock lifted San Marcos to a thrilling 34-33 win over Dos Pueblos in the semifinals of the Channel League Girls Flag Football Tournament on Tuesday at Buena High School.
The Royals and Chargers exchanged big scores down the stretch, as there were three lead changes in the final two minutes of play.
“Our kids just played with confidence and they didn’t get rattled,” San Marcos coach Walter Bazylewicz said. “They know that sometimes the time will run out but that they’re in every game.
“They believe in themselves and they trust each other and that’s what we did tonight… It was a full team effort and everybody contributed in a timely fashion.”
With the victory, San Marcos will now take on Oxnard, who upset No. 1-seeded Ventura on Tuesday, in the Channel League Championship game on Wednesday at Ventura College at 7:45 p.m.
“Football is a game of inches and we just lost some of the vital inches,” Dos Pueblos coach Doug Caines said. “They could’ve imploded and we kept battling and answering back but unfortunately we just came up short in a couple of different ways.
“We just weren’t able to execute at a level, at least defensively, that dictated the win.”
The game started with a bang, as Royals’ running back Peyton Sperling took the opening play of the night for a 60-yard touchdown to give her team a quick 6-0 lead.
Dos Pueblos immediately responded, marching down the field in nine plays with the score coming on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Liliana Rodriguez to Kindah Ahmad-Reda in traffic.
A successful one-point conversion attempt from Rodriguez to Sterling Streatfeild gave the Chargers a 7-6 lead just over six minutes into the game.
On the ensuing drive, Dos Pueblos’ Taylor Grant snagged an interception to keep the momentum with the Chargers.
However, the offense couldn’t capitalize as the Royals forced a turnover on downs deep in their own territory.
Following a turnover on downs by San Marcos, the Chargers expanded their lead thanks to a 5-yard touchdown pass from Rodriguez to Brooklyn Hedricks.
The extra-point attempt failed, giving Dos Pueblos a 13-6 lead with two minutes left in the half.
That was just enough time for Victoria Aldana and the Royals’ offense, as they moved down the field in a hurry and Aldana hit Mia Richmond for a 12-yard score and found Chesluk for the extra point to tie things up at 13-13 heading into halftime.
After San Marcos forced another turnover on downs from deep in its own territory, the offense picked up right where it left off with a scoring drive that ended in a 7-yard touchdown pass from Chesluk to Kayla Aguilar. The score gave the Royals a 19-13 lead, their first since the opening play of the game.
Dos Pueblos punched right back with a scoring drive of its own as Sterling Streatfeild scampered in for a 9-yard rushing touchdown.
The Chargers converted the extra-point attempt on a pass to Ahmad-Reda to take a 20-19 lead with 9:30 left to play.
The Dos Pueblos defense then forced a punt and immediately struck again as Ruby Streatfeild left the San Marcos defenders in the dust for a 60-yard touchdown run to extend the lead out to 26-19 after an unsuccessful extra-point attempt.
The Royals continued to battle, making their way down the field to a 4th and goal from the Dos Pueblos 7-yard line. With 1:55 left, Aldana found Aguilar for a touchdown to get within one point at 26-25.
Bazylewicz then decided to go for the two-point conversion to take the lead and the gamble paid off as Aldana found Chesluk in the endzone to go up 27-26 with just under two minutes on the clock.
“I’ve been coaching for 30-plus years and in terms of [Aldana’s] demeanor, I can’t think of another kid that I’ve had that has a better quarterback mentality,” Bazylewicz said. “She’s never too high, never too low and it’s always a next-play mentality with her.
“She does a great job with that whether it was a great play or a bad play she’s onto the next one no matter what.”
The Chargers weren’t done just yet, as a pair of completions and a San Marcos penalty moved the ball to midfield with one minute on the clock.
Rodriguez then dropped back to pass and found Ruby Streatfeild down the sideline, who hauled in the pass and blazed 40 yards down the field for the touchdown. A successful extra-point attempt to Ahmad-Reda gave Dos Pueblos the lead back at 33-27 with 54 seconds left in the game.
Ruby Streatfeild had a huge game for the Chargers, accumulating 155 total yards and a pair of touchdowns.
“Ruby is spectacular and she made some plays,” Caines said.
Needing 60 yards in less than a minute, the Royals started the drive with a pair of solid passes to set up a 3rd and short situation.
On that third down, Aldana floated a deep pass to Richmond down the sideline and the Dos Pueblos defender got her hand on it, but Richmond maintained her focus on the ball and came down with the juggling catch at the Dos Pueblos 5-yard line.
“We had a couple of huge plays from Mia Richmond,” Bazylewicz said.
That big play set up a 5-yard touchdown pass from Aldana to Chesluk to tie the game up at 33-33. On the one-point conversion attempt, Aldana fit a pass through traffic into the hands of Cook to take the one-point lead with 18 seconds on the clock.
The Chargers attempted to strike back, but the San Marcos defense secured the stop as time expired to survive the thrilling semifinal matchup.
“I was super proud of our execution and ultimately it just fell down to defense and literal inches on the last finger-tip bobble catch,” Caines said. “(That was) probably the most insane finish I’ve ever seen.”
Rodriguez led the Chargers under center all night, completing 25-of-36 for 252 yards and three touchdowns.
“San Marcos is great… they are a staunch defense so I was really proud of Lily’s execution,” Caines said.
The San Marcos offensive attack was led by the trio of Aldana, Chesluk and Sperling all night long.
Aldana completed 28-of-39 passes for 289 yards and three touchdowns, Chesluk hauled in seven catches for 98 yards and a score while also throwing a touchdown and Sperling accounted for 128 all-purpose yards.
“After the last DP game we looked at our stats and we said to ourselves Peyton had to get the ball more, Rio had to get the ball more and Victoria has got to be able to run the ball more so those were the things we’ve been working on for the last couple of weeks,” Bazylewicz said.
The Royals and Yellow Jackets are now set to square off in the championship game on Wednesday, with San Marcos coming out on top in their most recent bout, 26-19.