A loss against rival San Marcos in an early season non-league contest served as motivation for the Dos Pueblos High girls’ flag football team.
The Chargers responded with one of their best performances of the season in the rematch and captured a 20-6 victory over the Royals on Wednesday night at Warkentin Stadium.
“Last time we played these guys, full disclosure, they put it on us. They put on a clinic,” said Dos Pueblos coach Doug Caines. “We took that personally.”
The two defenses dominated the game early. Dos Pueblos finally broke the scoreless tie with a three-yard touchdown pass from Liliana Rodriguez to Sterling Streatfield. The Chargers followed that up with a one-point conversion on a pass from Rodriguez to Kacey Hurley to take a 7-0 lead with 3:06 remaining in the first half.
Dos Pueblos extended its lead to 14-0 with a two-yard pass from Rodriguez to freshman Kindah Ahmad-Reda on fourth down. Ahmad-Reda followed that up by catching the one-point conversion from Rodriguez to extend the Chargers lead in the opening minute of the second half.
“[Ahmad-Reda] is behind Esme [Mazurkiewicz], who is a returning player, our starting Y receiver who is dominant, but she has an arm injury. [Ahmad-Reda] had to step in as the next man up,” Caines said. “She made some big catches. It was nice to see her come into her own and find her rhythm.”
Trailing 14-0, San Marcos was in danger of letting the game slip away midway through the second half. However, a tipped pass by Marilyn Monroy resulted in a Rylie Cook interception that gave the Royals life.
On the second play of the ensuing San Marcos drive, freshman quarterback Victoria Aldana connected junior wide receiver Rio Chesluk on a 57-yard catch and run for the Royals’ first touchdown of the game.
Chesluk has been an explosive playmaker all season for San Marcos and made several Dos Pueblos defenders miss as she glided up-field for the touchdown.
“She is a special player. We didn’t find ways to get her the ball enough tonight. That will be one of our goals moving forward,” said San Marcos coach Walter Bazylewicz of Chesluk.
Trailing 14-6, San Marcos had possession with just over four minutes remaining in the game when Brooklyn Hedricks stepped in front of an Aldana pass for a momentum-swinging interception.
A few plays later, the Chargers turned the turnover into points when Rodriguez connected with Ahmad-Reda for the second time from two yards out, increasing the Dos Pueblos lead to 20-6 with 1:55 remaining.
With the victory, Dos Pueblos improved to 4-2 in Channel League play while San Marcos dropped to 4-2.