Football season has started again, and Mountain View and Los Altos High have joined the growing girls flag football movement when the two school teams faced off Wednesday.
The Spartans beat Los Altos 25-18 in the first competitive game against the Eagles thanks to a strong running performance and key plays from center Leilani Tanielu and wide receiver and cornerback Alana Hernandez.
“We did very well,” Mountain View head coach John Payne said of the team. “We executed a lot better than we did in our first scrimmage against them. We were able to make a lot of corrections… I was really proud of the girls on how they made the adjustments and how they were able to read what Los Altos was doing on both sides of the ball.”
Mountain View (2-3) opened the scoring after a touchdown run from Carmack Fiona to make it 6-0 after an Alana Hernandez interception in the first half set the Spartans inside the Los Altos 10-yard line.
Los Altos (1-1-1) responded with a nine-play drive that covered most of the field and eight pass attempts. Los Altos converted a fourth down with a 14-yard touchdown catch with 10 minutes left in the half from quarterback Sabrina Neal to receiver Karla Araracap to tie the game at 6-6.
Mountain View took control of the game with a drive that finished with a 2-yard touchdown catch from Hernandez with five minutes left in the half. Elisa Martinez of the Spartans had an interception on the opening drive of the second half, allowing Mountain View to score through a Leilani Tanielu touchdown catch, with the extra point making it 19-6 with 20 minutes left in the second half. Mountain View focused on executing its running the ball and option plays, its main focus early on in the season, with Megan Pan, Nyaira Payne and quarterback Kai Matsumoto all running the ball successfully during the game.
Los Altos was able to get back into the game on the next drive with a 60-yard touchdown pass from Neal to Araracap on a vertical route down the middle of the field with 17 minutes left. Mountain View regained momentum with another long drive and touchdown catch from Tanielu to make it 25-12. The junior snapped the ball and used her height to make a catch over multiple Los Altos defenders in the middle of the field. Tanielu, who plays center, has scored touchdowns in previous games, including two touchdowns against Wilcox last week.
“Usually, when we get to the end zone, I like to snap the ball and get into the end zone as soon as possible because usually everybody is shorter than me and I can get up really high, so we score a lot of touchdowns off of that, so that’s really one of the main things we do every game,” Tanielu said.
Payne noted she offered a rare combination of athleticism and height that allowed her to catch contested throws in the middle of the field and play linebacker and rush the quarterback.
“There are not too many girls that we are going to be playing against that are as tall as she is, and she’s going to go up and get it,” Payne said. “She’s been awesome.”
Hernandez had another interception with seven minutes left in the second half to seal the victory, with Payne calling Hernandez a great all-around athlete who transfers her skills on the basketball team to wide receiver and cornerback.
“I thought she was a great basketball player; she’s a great flag football player,” Payne said. “I really love her intensity. She’s so skilled.”
Los Altos quarterback Sabrina Neal went 10 for 22 for 137 yards, throwing three touchdowns and two interceptions. Karla Araracap finished with four catches for 88 yards and two touchdowns. Los Altos scored on the last play of the game with a touchdown catch by Oshea Orozco to make the final score 25-18.
Payne, who previously served as the Mountain View athletic director for three years and is currently a physical education teacher at the school, signed up to coach Mountain View after learning his daughter, Nyaira, was interested in playing flag football. He enjoys the bonds forming with the team and has been impressed by the growing interest in girls flag football. Mountain View initially was only going to have a varsity team in its inaugural year, but 59 girls tried out for the team, leading to the school administration allowing a junior varsity team. Mountain View has 22 players on varsity and 21 on junior varsity this year, and Payne believes the strong numbers will pay off in the years to come.
“It blew me away,” Payne said of the interest. “I didn’t realize the interest was so strong, and that’s a great thing just seeing these young ladies wanting to participate. It has been pretty awesome.
Payne has also coached football at Los Altos High and started coaching at Mountain View High in 2010 before taking a break. He noted learning the different rules of the new sport while teaching them to the players has been one of his biggest challenges. In flag football, the center is eligible and there are seven players on the field for each team. In addition, he is teaching the game to some players who have never played football before.
“Just trying to make sure the team is moving along together, not just a few kids get it,” Payne said of his coaching so far. “We really want to make sure everybody on the team is progressing in understanding their skills, position and the game.”
