In a monumental moment for San Mateo High, the girls flag football team played in their inaugural game against the Mills Vikings.
The first season of flag football in the district was kicked off by a game between the San Mateo Bearcats and the Mills Vikings. Following days of tireless training, the enthusiastic Bearcats took the field bravely, and fought hard until the bitter end.
After the coin toss, the Bearcats lined up to defend first, as the Vikings pushed to try to score. After a long back and forth between the Vikings and the Bearcats, the Bearcats managed to prevent the Vikings from scoring on their leading drive, as Junior Aundrea McCauley pressured the Vikings quarterback, leading to a turnover on downs.
The Bearcats started strong on their first possession, scoring easily as Senior Jasmine Bernardino scored on a 35 yard rushing touchdown, running through a wall of players, succeeding with “good catches… her speed helped us run the ball down the field, making it look easy,” said Senior teammate Chisa Matsumoto, who also had a 35 yard catch herself. The San Mateo football team could be heard from the bleachers, supporting their fellow Bearcats and creating noise by stomping and shouting encouragement. After a good tussle, the Bearcats missed the extra point conversion, making the score 6-0.
After the leading drive, the Bearcats got extremely unlucky as a miscommunication led the Vikings to score an easy touchdown. It seemed as if none of the Bearcats knew that the football had been snapped, leading to the Vikings breezing past the Bearcat defense.
However, this streak of bad luck did not end here. Mills then scored two touchdowns back to back, making the score 20-6. Several efforts to stop the Vikings were made, including blocks by Matsumoto and Bernardino’s many pulled flags, but in the end, the Vikings forced their way through, scoring despite the Bearcats’ fantastic defense.
The Bearcats finally got a breath of relief when Freshman Kayla Lichaa caught a beautifully thrown ball by the quarterback, Senior Lily Bernard. Accompanied by her teammates, including Matsumoto who set up block after block to assist her, Lichaa bolted her way from the 30 yard line to the end zone.
“When I passed to Kayla I knew she could catch it, but she was surrounded by so many people. It was awesome to see her fake each of them out and get to the end zone. The team and I were so excited when she scored, it really was such an amazing moment,” said Bernard.
Lichaa celebrated with her teammates, who sprinted to her, pleased with the beautiful throw and catch from Bernard to Lichaa. Adding a touchdown to her list of impressive plays was natural to Lichaa, who had “many catches that helped us advance,” according to Matsumoto. In addition to Lichaa’s impressive plays, Bernard also shined, “being able to throw different lengths and even run the ball when necessary… [also playing on] defense and stopped the play early before the Vikings could get any extra yardage,” informed Matsumoto.
Mills scored on their closing possession, increasing their lead to 26-12 with just under 2 minutes to go. The Bearcats, fighting hard for points, tried to come back by a drive led by Bernard, but ultimately ended the game with a score of 26-12.
The Bearcats will train tirelessly to be ready to take on Capuchino on Wednesday September 20th.