Santa Barbara High flag football dropped a heartbreaking 20-19 double-overtime battle with Villa Park in the opening round of the CIF-SS Div. 2 playoffs on Tuesday at Peabody Stadium.
After the game remained scoreless until the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter, the two sides combined for 26 points in the final minutes to send the game into overtime tied at 13-13 before Villa Park pulled it out in double OT.
“The heart, the fight, they brought it,” Santa Barbara High head coach Travis Mañach said of his team, playing in the program’s first-ever playoff game. “That was probably their best and hardest-played game, not the opponent, but just the way they played all season.”
The vast majority of the game was uneventful, as both defenses stood tall throughout the first three quarters to preserve the scoreless tie. In the first three quarters, the Dons forced three turnovers on downs and two punts, and got an interception from senior Aurelia Agredano.
“[The defense] did their part. They made the plays. We forced them to punt, and then it kind of became a field position game,” Mañach said. “They’ve just been outstanding all year. We’ve got a freshman at safety who just balls out, Maddie Stoll, but then our senior leadership from our rushers, Shea [Gannon] and Elina [Stump], getting in the backfield wreaking havoc on quarterbacks.
“[Agredano] has been at linebacker for the last two years and has just been rock steady… That was kind of our calling card this year, our defense. We relied heavily on them today, and they kept us in the game.”
Villa Park finally broke through midway through the fourth, as a 53-yard completion set the stage for a 13-yard passing touchdown to take a 6-0 lead with 4:39 left in regulation.
Santa Barbara responded with its best drive of the night, thanks in large part to a 44-yard completion from senior Laila Hernandez to senior Shea Gannon, who hauled in the pass and weaved through the defense down to the Spartan 13-yard line.
“We needed that play,” Mañach said of Gannon’s catch-and-run. “We were waiting for a big play all game, and she got us down there. We finally got it on their end of the field. It seemed like we were on our end a lot, and so we finally could flip the field a little bit, and that’s when our offense started getting going.”
Two plays later, senior Lanaya Solis rushed in a 10-yard touchdown to even the score. The extra-point attempt was no good, preserving the 6-6 tie with 2:23 on the clock.
On the ensuing drive, the SB defense stepped up as senior Lena Fackler came up with an interception and returned it to the Ventura 34-yard line with 1:45 left. The Dons marched through Villa Park territory before Solis took a direct snap and rushed in a 3-yard touchdown to give her team its first lead of the night.
Senior Elina Stump found the edge and rushed in the extra point to make it 13-6 with 40 seconds remaining.
The final drive of regulation featured controversy, as the Spartans completed a 31-yard pass down to the SB 11-yard line as the clock hit zero, but the referees granted Villa Park one final play.
That proved to be game-changing, as the Spartans scored on the next play and converted the extra-point on a tipped pass completion to tie it up at 13-13 and send the game into overtime.
The first overtime features possessions from each team that begin with 1st and goal from the opposing 10-yard line, and the Dons got the ball first. After two fumbles on the drive, SB found the end zone on a 12-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Lylee Harris to Stump. The extra point fell short to keep the lead at 19-13.
Villa Park answered with a touchdown of its own, scoring on a short pass play before failing the extra point to tie it up at 19-19. In the second overtime, the two teams exchange extra-point conversions until one team comes out on top.
The Spartans got the first try and opted for a pass play, which was tipped and ultimately fell into the hands of a Villa Park receiver to claim a 20-19 lead.
The Dons went for a swing pass on their ensuing extra-point attempt but were stopped in the backfield to give Villa Park the postseason victory.
“It just seemed like they got the bounces that we didn’t really get,” Mañach said. “I’m sort of at a loss for words for all that… It’s going to sting for a little bit.
“They just made the plays in the end, and that’s what it comes down to in games like this.”
Villa Park will take on Long Beach Millikan in the second round on Saturday.
