It was three seasons in the making, but Santa Barbara High flag football’s 13-6 win over crosstown rival San Marcos on Thursday at Warkentin Stadium was worth the wait.
The Dons (6-1) shutout the Royals (8-3) in the second half to earn their first win over their crosstown rival since the first-ever high school flag football season in 2023.
“I’ve got a group of seniors who haven’t beaten SM in most sports they play, so they were hungry for this one,” Santa Barbara High head coach Travis Mañach said.
Quarterback Laila Hernandez is one of those seniors, and one of just a handful that have been with the program for all four years since its inception.
“It’s pretty great,” Hernandez said of the win. “We haven’t beat [San Marcos] since my freshman year, and this was a big thing for all of the new seniors… [San Marcos] has been really good. We’ve finally grown and we completed what we’ve all been waiting for.”
Both defenses made their presence known early, as every drive in the opening quarter ended in either a punt or turnover on downs to keep the score at 0-0 heading into the second.
After a Santa Barbara High punt to begin the second quarter, the Royals opened the scoring with a bang.
On the second play of their drive, junior quarterback Victoria Aldana scrambled to her left and lofted a pass down the field to freshman Bella Bazylewicz, who had found a soft spot and gotten behind the defense.
Bazylewicz hauled in the pass and took off down the sideline, scoring a 57-yard touchdown to give her team a 6-0 lead at the 7:40 mark in the second. The ensuing extra-point attempt was unsuccessful.
“I was happy with that play because the design kind of broke down initially, and [Aldana] scrambled, and we went into a scramble drill type of situation and those two players made the play happen,” San Marcos head coach Walt Bazylewicz said.
“That’s really one of the first times that we’ve seen that this year, and they’re good enough athletes to be able to do that.”
The 6-0 San Marcos advantage held into halftime, as the Royals’ defense got two more stops and Santa Barbara High senior Shea Gannon secured a third-down sack to force a San Marcos punt.
The Dons’ defense made a stand to open the second half, forcing a quick three-and-out to give its offense possession in San Marcos territory.
Hernandez and the offense took advantage, marching right down the field thanks in part to a 17-yard rush by senior Elina Stump to get down to the 11-yard line.
Three plays later on fourth down, Hernandez floated a pass into the back of the end zone, and Gannon came down with the ball to even the score. Hernandez then found junior Sophia Olmedo for the one-point conversion to take a 7-6 lead with 5:50 left in the third.
“We were down(at halftime) because we felt like the offense was slow to start, but we started clicking a little bit on (offense),” Manach said.
The Royals bounced back with a solid drive down the field, but a muffed handoff bounced right into Santa Barbara High senior Lanaya Solis’ hands, who secured the ball for the turnover just before the game flipped into the fourth.
The Dons carried that momentum into their next drive, with Hernandez connecting with senior Alexandra Arnold on a 24-yard completion to get into Royal territory.
Two plays after the fourth quarter kicked off, Hernandez lofted a pass into the end zone that was tipped by multiple defenders and Dons before finding the hands of Arnold, who secured possession for an 18-yard touchdown and a 13-6 lead with 10:34 left in the game.
“I don’t know (what happened),” Hernandez said of her second touchdown pass. “I saw a girl, coach yelled to throw it, I threw it, and I guess luck was on our side with that one.”
Santa Barbara High forced another punt on the next drive, but San Marcos got its first big play of the second half on an interception by Bella Bazylewicz to give her team possession.
“The defense played well. We have to do a better job of knocking down the loose balls,” Walt Bazylewicz said. “The ball bounced [Santa Barbara’s way tonight, and they deserve all the credit.”
The Royals then began their march down the field with a game-tying score in sight, but the Dons made their final stand of the day. On fourth down and long, Aldana tossed a deep ball towards the end zone that Santa Barbara High sophomore Vanessa Esparza broke up to seal the win.
“There’s a lot of leaders out there,” Mañach said of his defense. “They understand the communication and staying in your role, and doing your job out there… You can’t do everything on every play. It’s just knowing what you’re supposed to do and doing it well.
“We just felt like we had them on their heels when they were on offense… We felt like [Aldana] was having a tough time. Victoria’s a great athlete, and I think we just kept her on the move, which she’s really good at, but we just kept sticking to the game plan.”
San Marcos will have a quick turnaround, taking on two games to begin the Cal Poly Tournament on Friday in San Luis Obispo.
“We didn’t execute very well, and we have to get better,” Walt Bazylewicz said. “We’re a young group, and we’re going to learn from it, and we’ve got two games tomorrow, so we don’t have a lot of time to dwell on it.”
Meanwhile, the Dons will now look ahead to the beginning of league play next week, which kicks off next Thursday on the road against Pacifica.
“We had some goals going into the year. One of them was to beat SM, and the next ones were to win league and go to CIF (playoffs),” Mañach said. “We haven’t done either of those before, so we feel like we got a good opportunity with this group. We’re excited.”
