Birmingham was the team to beat all season long. The Patriots were the defending L.A. City Section Open Division champs and had not lost a game since their flag football program began, although in the first game of this season they tied Verdugo Hills, 0-0.
The Dons had the perfect opportunity on Wednesday to hand the Patriots their first true loss in 27 games, and that’s exactly what they did.
Much like in the season opener, the Dons’ defense shut down the Patriots. And this time, the Dons won 12-0.
The Dons advance to the CIF L.A. City Section Open Division semifinals to take on top-seeded San Pedro on Wednesday, Feb. 20.
The Dons are in familiar territory after winning the City Section Division I championship last season.
“Our girls played outstanding,” Verdugo Hills head coach Darren Fitzgerald said. “Offensively we did enough. We have so much speed defensively and pulling flags is huge. Besides a few plays, our defense rallied. Birmingham is a great team, so it was huge we knocked them down. We knew they were solid, defending champions from last year, they have great athletes.”
Coming into the game, the Patriots had not been shut out all season long except for their season opener. The scorching offense finally met its match against the same team that shut them out in this season’s opener.
The Birmingham passing game was virtually nonexistent, getting just 8 yards in the first half.
The trick plays that have become an important component of the Patriots’ offense were easily sniffed out by the Dons.
Bella Gonzalez led the Patriots with 38 yards rushing while Malaea Tonga ended her day with 60 yards passing, six yards rushing and an interception on defense. Despite their best efforts, there was no real opportunity for the Patriots to score until the end of the game.
“We didn’t perform well enough today to win a playoff game,” said Birmingham head coach Jim Rose. “We said it would’ve been a great season if we didn’t have expectations of playing for a City title. That’s our expectation. If we don’t get there, I don’t want to say it was an ultimate failure, but it was sort of a failure for us because of our expectations and mentality of playing here.”
The tone was set early by the Dons and they never wavered after that. Meadow Moore finished with 75 total yards and one touchdown, including a 33-yard receiving touchdown on a trick play.
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The Dons forced just one turnover in the game, an interception that Julianna Sarabia hauled in on a failed Patriots trick play.
Sarabia did damage on both sides of the ball, finishing with 93 total yards and a 60-yard rushing touchdown.
“I’m feeling very excited, the adrenaline is taking over,” said Sarabia. “We felt prepared for this. It was different because it’s Open Division compared to Division 1, but Birmingham was our biggest competition so taking them down makes us feel very confident we can go far. Now we have to rest, focus up in practice, and keep our mentality up. Don’t give up.”
L.A. City playoff scores:
Division I quarterfinals
Panorama 12, Roosevelt 7
Sylmar 22, Jefferson 29
Division II quarterfinals
Cleveland 24, Elizabeth 0