Girls flag football has been a long awaited sport at San Gabriel, this fall season of 2024 it finally made its way to the Matador stadium. As family and friends gathered in support for the Matador flag football girls, the game came to a start with the coach giving shout outs to his Senior players: Julissa Villegas; 10, Kayla Dao; 20, Giselle Cardenas; 23, Angelina Martinez; 12, Ivy Duarte; 19, Itzel Perez; 17, and Karol Quijivix; 15. Each senior walked down a line with their teammates cheering them on, followed by receiving a customized basket from their underclassmen.
In the first half Cardenas pulled a flag and made an interception. Jaylene Avila; 13, passed to Vilegas and Duarte which she made a breakthrough. Right after Avila, Villegas, and Martinez scored a touchdown back to back. Which led the score to be 13 to 0 leading to the second half. A couple minutes into the second half, Martinez scored another touchdown which made the score 19 to 0. Soon after Perez was able to get a catch moving the ball. Quickly following after, Cardenas made another interception, which led to Avila making a great pass to Martinez allowing her to make another great touchdown.. Then towards the end the game Kimberly Montero; 9, and Cardenas were both able to pull flags. After the game we were able to interview three players.
Itzel Perez, a senior triathlete at San Gabriel shared a few words. What inspired her to join Flag Football was her experience participating in the Powerpuff last year as she was on the junior team. She very much enjoyed playing the sport with girls involved in the event. Before the game explaining that she was feeling excited with a mix of nervousness. She elaborates more on how she was feeling mixed emotions with sad and excited being ones that occurred most because she said it’s like their last game; however, she believes that that their team will make it to CIFs. She believed that her performance was not that good, believing she could have done better. Even though she was able to make a great catch in the second half, which she is very proud of. Perez was asked what advice she would give to underclassmen and she said “Join flag football and make some good memories, and to keep joining different clubs and a bunch of different things to make many happy memories because time will go by fast.”
Second, Angelina Martinez is also a senior and is the captain of the team. She was inspired to join flag football because it was a new sport at SG and she wanted to brag that Class of 2025 was one of the first classes to join. Martinez felt great that she was chosen for captain, she felt that it was well deserved and that it helped her become a better person. Before the game she felt a bit of butterflies because her family was there to watch her play. However, once she stepped on that field everything went away. Her mind was focused on the game. She believed that her performance was excellent and her team’s performance was excellent as well. “Every rep matters, like practice and for every rep try your hardest,” Martinez said for what advice she would give to her underclassmen.
Finally, Kimberly Montero who is a current Junior. Her inspiration to join the team was her friends. They motivated her to be out there and play the sport and she loves playing with them, and it makes her super excited. Montero felt a bit nervous, but super excited because she was able to play with all of her seniors. “This is my last time playing with them, so it was a bittersweet moment,” Montero said. Montero stated that this was one of her better games. She was super hyped on the field. She was fully prepared to get a sack and she was able to achieve two sacks. She fully recommends underclassmen to join flag football. She states that you build sisters on the team, it is fun, and night practices are super hyped. “To my seniors, I love you guys and to keep working hard and I am totally going to visit you guys in college,” Montero said as the night ended with the sound of cheers and the celebration of joy and tears.