Woodbridge’s Laney Brucker evades four Downey defenders Saturday. (Photos courtesy John Luciano, For OC Sports Zone).
One of the early season goals for the Woodbridge girls flag football team was to reach the open division of the CIF playoffs.
The Warriors went through the regular season 22-4 and undefeated to win the Pacific Coast League title to advance into the highest division, which is using a pool play format.
The No. 6-seeded Warriors took care of business in round one of play play defeating No. 10 Downey 33-19 Saturday night at Woodbridge and move into their second pool play game Wednesday at 5 p.m. at No. 3 Orange Lutheran.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
The winners of the four pools move on to two semifinals on Saturday to determine the top two teams in the finals on Saturday, Nov. 7 at Huntington Beach.
“That was our goal at the beginning of the year to be in the open division,” said Woodbridge Coach Mark Thompson. “
Woodbridge will have a rematch with Orange Lutheran, which defeated Downey 16-12 in its pool play opener. Orange Lutheran (17-4) defeated Woodbridge 13-7 on Aug. 31.
“We’re excited for that one,” Thompson said. “We played them earlier this year, it was a really tight game, and we just want to get back and get redemption because we lost to them.”
Woodbridge was clicking offensively Saturday and the defense made some big plays.
“I’m just super proud of the team the way they came together,” said Thompson. “They played hard, we had to fight for this one, one play a time and they came up clutch when it mattered.”
Offensively, quarterback Delia Stone completed 26 of 39 passes for 256 yards and four touchdowns. She also rushed for 82 yards on 11 carries.
“We played a really, really hard team today,” Stone said. “We played so hard, I think our defense showed out today with all the goal-line stops, we’ve been working really hard on different coverages and I think we showed them off really well today.
“This is all some of the best teams in the nation and the fact that we can compete with them the way we do is very impressive. I think I ran a little less than I normally do but that’s because I had so many open receivers running hard routes for me and I think I did a good job getting the ball to them.”
Laney Brucker had eight receptions for 95 yards and a touchdown. Loghan Everett had six catches for 75 yards and a TD, Lauren Gagnier had six receptions for 38 yards and two touchdowns and Naiomi Tase had five receptions for 42 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, Makayla Bowden led the way with 10 flag pulls, two sacks and three tackles for a loss. Brucker had nine flag pulls, one sack and one pass pass defended, Stone had eight flag pulls and Gagnier had six flag pulls and two interceptions.
Downey (22-6) struck first in Saturday’s game when quarterback Madeline Garcia connected with Carissa Rodriguez on a TD pass.
But Woodbridge tied the game when Stone hooked up with Gagnier on a score to tie the game 6-6.
Stone and Gagnier team up for another score early in the second quarter giving the Warriors a 12-6 lead.
Stone threw a TD pass to Everett late in the first half to give Woodbridge an 18-6 lead.
However, Downey stayed close when Garcia threw a TD pass to Victoria Navarro, cutting the lead to 18-12 at halftime.
Woodbridge’s defense was tough for the whole game. Downey looked like it would get back in the game in the third quarter when the Vikings drove to the Warriors 3-yard line. But Woodbridge’s Bowden made a big flag pull to end the drive.
Woodbridge extended its lead to 24-12 when Stone hit Tase on a touchdown pass. The Warriors also made the two-point conversion.
The Warriors extended their lead to 33-12 when Brucker hauled in a TD catch.
Rodriguez, the Downey quarterback, scored on a 26-yard TD run late in the game for the final margin.
Stats courtesy Woodbridge flag football team.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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