A dominant defensive effort led the Dos Pueblos High flag football team to a 39-6 victory over Aliso Nigel in the opening round of the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs.
The Chargers threw five interceptions and won the first CIF playoff game in program history.
“As a football coach and flag football coach, people sleep in the 805. “I was proud to see four of the 16 teams in Division 1 come out of the 805,” said Dos Pueblos coach Doug Cains. “We’re going to get the ball here. We’re the northernmost school in the southern division and people forget about us.”
Sophomore Brooklyn Hedricks intercepted Aliso Niegel’s first offense. The Chargers capitalized on field position with Liliana Rodriguez’s short pass to Kinda Ahmad-Reda and took a 7-0 lead after a successful one-pointer. conversion.
Dos Pueblos took the lead on another touchdown by Rodriguez to Ahmad-Reda and took a 14-0 lead with less than 13 minutes left in the first half.
Ahmad-Reda continued to flourish during his freshman season, finishing with seven catches for 79 yards and three touchdowns.
“He has proven himself to be a top-level player. It’s been great to see him step into that role, especially as a freshman,” Keynes said.
Senior Sophia Pixley recorded Dos Pueblos’ second interception of the game on Aliso Niegel’s ensuing possession, which led to a ten-yard pass from Rodriguez to Taylor Grant at the 7:38 mark of the first half. The ensuing two-point conversion failed, giving Dos Pueblos a 20-0 lead.
Dos Pueblos scored another touchdown before halftime on a short shovel pass to Sterling Streatfeild, making it 26-0.
In the second half, Dos Pueblos immediately forced an Aliso Niguel turnover and capped a 5-play, 48-yard drive with a 14-yard pass from Rodriguez to Ahmad-Reda that made it 33-0. After one point conversion to Grant
Hannah Kaminski closed the scoring with a 12-yard field goal that put Dos Pueblos up 39-0 with less than 13 minutes left in the game.
Alice Niegel’s only score came on an eight-yard pass from Paige Russell to the Sienna bench with 8:10 left in the contest.
Dos Pueblos will travel to Newport Harbor for a quarterfinal game on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 5 p.m.