The flag football and girls’ volleyball playoffs have arrived, and for local teams that have reached the postseason, the time has come to survive and advance.
Cross country and tackle football coaches took the opportunity to provide updates on their seasons as they enter the final stretch of the regular season at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Roundtable press luncheon.
Athletes of the Week
Piper Kittle of San Marcos High’s flag football team was instrumental in earning the Royals a playoff berth with back-to-back victories over Ventura last week. She finished with six catches, 72 receiving yards, and a touchdown in a 12-0 win over Ventura on Tuesday. She followed that performance with 17 catches, 119 receiving yards, and a touchdown in a 13-12 win over Ventura on Wednesday in a play-in game.
Everett Rabb Preston continued his late-season surge against Rio Mesa during the homecoming game, finishing with 137 rushing yards on 18 carries and one rushing touchdown. He also added four catches for 66 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in a 37-0 win.
Flag Football Playoffs
Dos Pueblos, San Marcos, and Santa Barbara all reached the CIF-SS playoffs in separate divisions. The Chargers will compete against some of the top teams in Southern California and the nation in the prestigious CIF-SS Open Division after finishing the regular season with an 18-3 record.
As the No. 11 overall seed, Dos Pueblos will travel to face No. 2 seed Newport Harbor on Wednesday before taking on Westlake on Saturday, October 24. The Open Division consists of four pools, with each pool winner advancing to the semifinals.
Division 1 features a more traditional bracket, with San Marcos traveling to Redondo Beach for the first round of the single-elimination tournament on Tuesday, October 20.
After finishing second in the Pacific View League, Santa Barbara will host Villa Park in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 2 playoffs, beginning at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, October 20. It will be the first playoff game in program history.
“It’s cool that we have this opportunity,” said Santa Barbara High coach Travis Manach. “With the way the leagues are set up, it gives that competitive equity, so we made playoffs, San Marcos is going, Dos Pueblos is going, so there’s a lot of excitement for the local teams.”
Dos Pueblos Invitational
The Chargers had a strong showing at the Dos Pueblos Invitational on Saturday, October 11, with the boys taking first place and the girls finishing second behind Long Beach Poly.
Dos Pueblos coach David Jackson highlighted senior Viola Penn, who recorded a personal record (PR) at the invitational with a time of 21:10.6.
Other standouts included senior James Dominguez, who finished seventh with a time of 16:28.3.
Dos Pueblos will take a large contingent of more than 50 runners to the Mt. SAC Invitational on Saturday.
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