By Reese Meister
The Fountain Valley High School Barons (FVHS) girls varsity flag football team lost by a score of 18-6 against the Marina High School (MHS) Vikings on the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 13.
The Vikings started out strongly, with their quarterback throwing a series of long, accurate passes. Within the first two minutes, MHS had secured the first points of the game, making the score 6-0. However, co-captain junior Lola Korhonen impressively blocked the pass during their extra point play, preventing the Vikings from extending their lead.
In the Barons’ first offensive play, senior Adrianna Gordon ran the ball to gain a few yards, followed with another short run by quarterback and team co-captain, senior Izzy Palomino, during second down. At third down, Palomino threw a sharp pass to sophomore Sophie Hsieh, who caught the ball in spite of an opposing player reaching from behind her, securing a first down for the Barons.
In the next play, Gordon made another impressive run, but the Barons were called for offensive holding, forcing them to replay the down and start farther back. The penalty led to a near interception by the Vikings on the second down and an incomplete pass on the third down, leading to the Vikings regaining possession.
The FVHS defensive team, however, matched MHS’s performance. Before the Vikings could secure a first down, the Barons had shut down their plays, forcing MHS to give up the ball. To start the possession, senior Sannah Dhamija made a significant run. Palomino then completed a pass to junior Reese Zarzana on the next down. Right after, Palomino passed another impressive ball to Zarzana, who skillfully dodged a Viking player to run it down the sideline until she was stopped short of a first down. During an exciting fourth down play, the Vikings managed to block the Barons’ pass, allowing them to gain possession at around the 50-yard line. t about half-field.
On first down, junior Joey Duong had the FVHS fans excited with a near interception, but the Vikings ran a strong play on second down to gain around eight yards. After an incomplete pass, MHS decided to make an attempt on fourth down, setting the stage for the most exciting moment of the game. With Korhonen pressuring the offense, the Vikings’ quarterback made a desperate pass attempt that Duong took advantage of, intercepting the throw and running it all the way down the field for a thrilling pick six. In their extra point attempt, the pass went a bit long, so the score was now tied 6-6 with just 3:30 left in the first half.
In the Vikings’ next possession, the FVHS defense once again came through, with senior Delaney Mondino skillfully pulling the opponent’s flag on both first and second down, limiting their yardage gains. On third down when senior co-captain Riley Bridges tipped the ball to prompt a near interception, the Vikings once again handed possession back to the Barons.
Duong used her speed to make some progress for FVHS, but, with only 43 seconds left in the half, a Viking intercepted the ball on the Barons’ third down. Mondino once again came through with a much-needed flag pull, and senior Brianna Mallette impressively blocked a long pass into the zone. Unfortunately for the Barons, on a fourth down attempt with just nine seconds left on the clock, MHS’s quarterback threw an accurate pass to a receiver who caught it over her shoulder in the end zone. Though the Vikings did not succeed in their extra point play, they held the lead at 12-6 going into half-time.
The Barons displayed renewed energy as they returned to the field to start the second half. f. Junior Julia Escutia went in as quarterback, handing the ball off to Gordon who ran the ball to gain a few yards on the first play. She completed a pass to Zarzana, making some significant progress. However, the Vikings intercepted the pass on the third play, giving them possession around midfield.
The next few possessions went by quickly, with neither team seeming to gain any momentum. Korhonen continued to excel, being a key defensive player for the Barons and making crucial stops.
With about 12:30 left, Palomino re-entered the game. Bridges maneuvered around the Vikings to make a run that helped rebuild the team’s energy. On the next play, Palomino executed a strong pass to Hsieh, who made a stunning play by continuing to run and complete about a 30 yard play. Despite this momentum, however, just a few plays later, the Vikings once again shocked the crowd with a thrilling interception in the end zone.
Korhonen remained a stand-out defensive player, pulling flags in two consecutive plays and making a remarkable interception on the third. After the interception, Korhonen was knocked to the ground by an opponent, drawing a penalty and allowing the Barons to advance further. However, the back-and-forth game carried on, and the Vikings shocked the crowd with another interception before the Barons had the chance to progress any more.
The Vikings’ quarterback continued to execute essential plays for her team, launching a long pass to an open player down the field to earn another first down. With just two minutes remaining, the quarterback again made the perfect throw to an open receiver who sprinted to the end zone to extend the MHS lead to 18-6. However, they missed out on another extra point after an incomplete pass.
Despite the challenging situation for the Barons, the team put together an impressive series of plays, including a fake hand-off followed by a completed pass to Hsieh to maintain possession on a fourth down attempt. Although the Barons continued to make some progress down the field, the game ended after an unsuccessful attempt to run the ball on their fourth down.
Despite the loss, this game marked significant progress in the team’s spirit and energy.
“I felt like we played hard. I think we did a really good job trying to keep the energy up and keep our motivation up, even though we were down a little bit,” Bridges said. “And I think we came together as a team spirit wise, but also athletically. We kept trying our best, we kept cheering each other on—I thought that was really good.”
Bridges also recognized her team’s defensive efforts.
“I think our defense was on fire today. We had a few interceptions,” Bridges said. “We had some really good sacks, and I thought that was one of the best things we did.”
She also acknowledged her teammates Korhonen and Zarzana for having standout games. Head coach Jacob Morado shared Bridges’ enthusiasm about the defensive performance. Morado credits Bridges as the leader of the defense for her role in bringing the team together and noted other players for key contributions to the game.
“Joey Duong had a big pick six, and that’s the only score we had tonight. Lola has been a tackling machine, and we actually had [Jaelyn] Mallette step up as a big time rusher for us today, and so it was really fun to see,” Morado said. “I can name all those defensive players because they’re all doing their job … they are making it really hard for teams.”
To continue to improve, though, Bridges hopes that the team will practice “stronger flag pulls.” Morado also expressed future goals for the Barons and feels confident that the offense will continue to make progress and build a stronger team.
“We’re going to work on getting a little tougher,” Morado said. “We get into some tough spots … and I’m not going to say that we shy away from the moment, but I think we’re going to get better at accepting what we need to do and executing that.”
The Barons will look forward to more games throughout the season, including their next at 3:15 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 18, at Edison High School against the Chargers.
“As a team, we’re starting to really come together. We’re starting to really love each other and play for each other. It’s taken a little while to get going—we got some players from different sports, different backgrounds,” Morado said. “I think tonight we actually showed some fight as a group.”
