Gustine Girls Flag football took a loss from Hilmar on Sept. 9 and won their game against Millennium on Sept. 10.
Against Hilmar, the team really showed a big improvement since their last game against East Union. They were able to get out there and play flag football at a level they never had before.
As the coach, each game we are getting better and better. I knew that it was going to take some time since we were all learning but at these games, I have been really proud to see the girls step up and compete at a different level than the game before. #16 Nayeli Nieto had the first interception of the season which started momentum for the team for the rest of the game. Immediately after that QB #15 Bethany Guinn threw a 40-yard reception to #21 Jacqueline Chavez to put us 5 yards away from the endzone. Coming up short of a touchdown we did not give up. #5 Clarissa Toledo caught another interception to give us back the ball. Then in the next rotation #15 Bethany Guinn caught an interception in Hilmar's endzone to stop them from scoring. The Reds lost 33-0.
Even though we may have lost that game we still improved tremendously and that is what I always tell the girls at practice. Bethany went on to lead with 6 flag pulls, Jacquline added 3 and the rest of the team added 2 pulls each. Cecilia Rivera added 3 passes defended causing Hilmar to turn it over on downs.
Against Millennium, the Reds really showed out this game. Since we have been playing back-to-back games for two weeks, the girls were running on no practice for four days in a row but that didn't stop them from running the plays correctly and playing as a team. We started the game strong with #5 Clarissa Toledo having the first touchdown of the season and after that, the team was competing until the very end. At the half, the score was 12-6, and going into the second half our gameplay was going to be the same just making sure everyone was catching the ball, and running the plays, and on defense grabbing the flag before they gained too many yards. Clarissa would go on to score another touchdown, #21 Jacqueline Chavez, #15 Bethany Guinn, and #14 Isabella Haro each added one touchdown. The Red would win 25-12. Bethany had a season-high of 15 flag pulls, #11 Emireth Nieto had 4 and the rest of the team added 1 each.
As the coach, I knew this game was going to be good once I saw how the girls started because they were really into it and they were ready to win. Going into Tuesday against Mariposa our outlook is going to be the same, we are just going to focus on making sure to stop them from gaining yards and make sure we are catching the ball and running our plays so we can start the season out strong. Millennium was our first league game so we are now 1-0 in the league.
