Ventura’s flag football team performance throughout the tournament
The flag football regular season came to an end after the girls finished it off with the Channel League Tournament from Oct. 14-16, going into the tournament undefeated in the league and ranked number 19 in the nation.
The tournament started off with a home game against Pacifica High School. The game played out smoothly for VHS with the first half ending in a 34 point lead and the final score being 52-0, meaning they get to move on to the next round. Some of the top performers for that game were Mya Rodriguez ‘27 and Ava Ortman ‘26. Both scored two touchdowns and a combined score of 234 yards.
Naima Tovar ‘26 said, “We definitely have a good team bond and great coaches. Also we have so many talented athletes from other sports, and we are able to learn from previous games and open our playbooks at those times.”
The next day on the 15th, the girls took on Oxnard High School in neutral field at Buena, which ended in a loss for the Cougars by one point. The final score ended in 7-8, with Oxnard scoring their winning touchdown with almost no time left on the clock.
On the last day, Oct.16, Ventura went against Dos Pueblos at the Ventura College field fighting for third place. The game started with VHS scoring the first touchdown but DPHS matched that point not long after. Dos Pueblos ended up leading by the end of the first half, scoring another touchdown with a little over a minute left. The second half started with two touchdowns from DPHS within the first ten minutes, leaving them with a 20 point lead. The final two touchdowns of the game were scored by Ventura, one with only 10 seconds left, ending the game at 19-27, equaling a loss for the Cougars and fourth place in the tournament.
Ortman said, “I think my team played great but we just came short. There is stuff we can improve on for sure and I even saw improvement from game two to game three that I love to see.”
This year, the girls flag football team managed to win 23 out of the 28 overall games played. Winning all seven of their league games made them the number one seed for CIF and Channel League champions regardless of their placement in the tournament. The girls now stand 35th in the national rankings.
![“[The game] was pretty lopsided. Didn't go in our favor. You know, our guys continued to fight throughout the entire four quarters of the game, but it was just a night that didn't go our way. And so I think we just build from here and get ready for league and make a run for league,” said head coach Tim Garcia. Photo by: Vail Newman](https://thecougarpress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/1cover-1200x800.jpg)
