An up and coming Santa Barbara High flag football program came into its rivalry matchup with Dos Pueblos undefeated at 5-0 and riding a wave of momentum, but the Chargers proved why they are one of the best teams in Southern California with a 31-0 victory on Tuesday night.
Dos Pueblos (9-2) is currently ranked No.12 in the State of California and No. 22 in the nation according to Maxpreps.
“I challenged them to step up, the nerves of the rivalry game always kind of amplify things a little bit, but they responded,” said Dos Pueblos coach Doug Caines, who is a former tackle football coach at both Santa Barbara High and Dos Pueblos.
Dos Pueblos set the tone on its opening drive of the game behind the electric dual-threat ability of Ruby Streatfield.
The Chargers drove down the field in six plays as Streatfeild connected with senior Brooklyn Hedricks for a four-yard touchdown. Hedricks making a difficult sideline catch with a graceful toe tap to give Dos Pueblos a 6-0 lead with 7:14 remaining in the first quarter.
The Chargers excelled in all three phases of the game, including special teams as Sophomore Makyla Watt fielded a Santa Barbara punt and lateraled to senior Hazel Burgess, who raced down the sideline before being stopped at the Dons’ 5-yard line. Two plays later, junior Ava Taiji scrambled into the end zone from five yards out to make it 12-0 heading into the second quarter.
“I’m excited that we have a two-headed dragon,” said Caines of Streatfeild and Taiji, who shared quarterback duties against Santa Barbara. “We’ve got two QBs that have both different intangibles. They’re both mobile. They can both throw.”
Watts then broke the game open with a 60-yards punt return touchdown to give Dos Pueblos an 18-0 lead with 4:23 left in the first half.
Dos Pueblos continued its dominance after the break. Streatfeild connected with Kindah Ahmad-Reda for a 5-yard touchdown before Hedricks intercepted a pass and returned it 35 yards for another score. She also caught the ensuing extra-point attempt to make it 31-0.
The Chargers’ defense held Santa Barbara scoreless and recorded several key turnovers, including interceptions by junior Jane Gibson and sophomore Charlotte Gardiner. Freshman Maddie Stoll had an interception for the Dons.
“We knew what we were up against with their record the last couple years with the teams they play and how they play against them,” said Santa Barbara coach Travis Mañach of the matchup against highly-ranked Dos Pueblos. “You want to play teams like this just to see where you’re at and we learned a lot about who we are.”
Elena Stump was a standout for Santa Barbara defensively with constant pressure that resulted in several flag pulls behind the line of scrimmage. Wide receivers Shea Gannon and Alexandra Arnold made several key catches, but the Dons could not convert near the goal line.
Dos Pueblos will host Pacifica on Thursday for its first home game of the season. Santa Barbara will travel to San Marcos on Thursday at Warkentin Stadium.
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