The Merced High girls raise the flag on another CCC title

The Merced High girls flag football team rallied from a 26-18 deficit in the second half to defeat Atwater 39-32  with a game-winning drive in the final minute on Thursday at Dave Honey Stadium. The victory clinched a second consecutive Central California Conference championship for the Bears, who improved to 20-2 overall and 9-0 in the CCC.

 

Leading the way for the Bears was senior quarterback Antonia Lejarde, who completed 27 of 40 passes for 342 yards and six touchdowns. Senior receiver Averie Steverson hauled in 10 catches for 123 yards and three scores. Amachi Turner caught two touchdowns, including the game-winner in the final seconds.

 

“It's a great feeling,” said Bears head coach Vic Nazario. “We have worked hard in the offseason and all season to get to this point. We know the job is not complete and need to keep pushing to our next goal that we are trying to accomplish. We still know that we have Buhach next week and that's going to be a tough game as well.”

 

The Bears travel to Buhach Colony on Tuesday night before the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs start on Oct. 28 as Merced tries to win back-to-back section championships. 

 

The Bears had to overcome an Atwater team that has caught fire late in the season winning four of its last five games. The Falcons were driving up and down the field against Merced as quarterback Kaylee Gunnin threw for 317 yards and five touchdowns to go along with 56 rushing yards. Sophomore Makayla Ybarra was unguardable as she finished with 12 catches for 181 yards and two touchdowns. Ella Garcia, Charli Tucker and Valencia Villalobos all caught touchdowns as well for Atwater.

 

“We’ve been finally playing up to our potential the past few weeks and it’s good to see the girls build their confidence,” said Atwater coach Nathan Ramirez, whose team is 13-10 overall and 5-4 in the CCC. “For the most part, we’re a younger team, our defense consisted of two freshmen, three sophomores, a junior and one senior.”

 

“Against Merced we proved to these ladies and everyone else that we can play with anyone when we are all flying in the same formation. We tell these ladies all the time, ‘If you live in the past, you have no future,’ so we’re going to move forward and the next game is the most important one. If we can take care of business on Tuesday the plan is to then make a good run in the playoffs.”

 

Nazario credited some second-half adjustments on defense for helping the Bears turn the game around late. Alyssa Oseguera and Natalie Lopez both finished with three sacks for the Merced defense.

 

“That adversity is good and we need to experience that especially at this point in the season,” Nazario said. “We know the type of team that we have; we just have to fly around the field on offense and defense like we have done all year. We told them not to press and just execute.”

 

Los Banos 20, Golden Valley 18 – Tigers quarterback Kaylee Fuentes threw for 258 yards and three touchdowns as Los Banos edged Golden Valley. Siena Freitas scored two touchdowns for the Tigers. 

 

Lathrop 7, Livingston 0 – The Wolves dropped to 10-13 despite an impressive showing from their defense against the Spartans. Livingston held Lathrop to just 156 yards of offense. Madison Compton recorded nine tackles and one interception for Livingston.

 

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.