After winning the Trans Valley League in back-to-back seasons, Orestimba High flag football team are back in a familiar setting, the postseason. Last season didn’t go as planned as Orestimba lost to Hughson High, 21-18, in the semifinals of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoffs. Hughson went on to win the section championship.
As the first seed, Orestimba couldn’t have asked for a better outing in its first game. The Warriors dominated No.16 Gridley High School with a 35-6 win in the first round on Wednesday. Orestimba advances to quarterfinals where it’ll host Destiny Christian Academy on Monday at 6 p.m.
Leading the Warriors’ offense was Salece Machado, who scored three total touchdowns. Additionally, Hailey Starr recorded three passing touchdowns.
Like the offense, Orestimba made their presence known on defense and forced three interceptions from Gridley’s Kaydenze Pruitt. Two were from Laylahni Garcia and one from Imelda Beltran.
Head coach John Labno said the team watched film on Gridley and noticed they rely on a run-oriented offense. Orestimba countered that with a six across the front defense, which involved two players near the line of scrimmage, four players behind them and one player at the back of the field.
“(The players) did a great job. They weren’t concerned about having to change things up. They did a really good job on that,” Labno said about the Warriors’ defense.
Orestimba scored the game’s first touchdown on its second play when Machado threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Beltran to lead 7-0.
While Gridley didn’t score in the first quarter, the Bulldogs got within Orestimba’s 20-yard line to start the second quarter. However, their momentum was short-lived after Pruitt’s pass was intercepted by Garcia.
While Garcia’s play didn’t result in a scoring drive, it changed the game’s momentum for Orestimba. With no success with running or passing the ball, Gridley’s offense struggled.
Starr, however, led the Warriors in an eight-play drive to the 20-yard line. She threw a touchdown pass to Natalie Corella, who caught the ball while retaining her balance into the end zone. Starr threw a short pass to Madelyn Perez for the extra point conversion to lead 14-0.
As Gridley started a drive on their 20-yard line, Pruitt threw another interception after her pass was picked off by Beltran. This led to a scoring drive for the Warriors as Starr threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Marian Quevedo. She threw a short pass to Machado for the extra point for a 21-0 lead.
The Bulldogs were once again starting at their 20-yard line. After not converting a down on their first three attempts, Gridley decided to go for a fourth down attempt. That risk didn’t pay off as Beltran broke up a pass attempt from Pruitt, giving the Warriors another chance to extend its lead.
After Starr led Orestimba in the previous two drives, it was Machado’s turn. On second-and-five, Machado threw a short pass to Perez, who ran into the endzone for the team’s fourth touchdown of the half. During the extra point attempt, Machado’s pass attempt was tipped by a Gridley’s defender. However, the ball went back to Machado who ran into the endzone for the conversion for a 28-0 lead at halftime.
The second half was more or less the same as Gridley struggled offensively. Halfway through the third quarter, Pruitt threw her third interception of the game after her pass was picked off by Garcia. The Warriors later drove down to Gridley’s 5-yard line.
Starr threw a touchdown pass to Machado to extend Orestimba’s lead. Mariah Moreno caught a pass in the end zone for the extra point to lead 35-0. While Pruitt scored a rushing touchdown later in the game, it wasn’t enough to overcome Gridley’s deficit. .
While the win was the first step towards their goal, Labno said the players know that there are more games left. He added that the last postseason’s loss is still resonating with the players.
“They’ve worked really hard all year to get back where we were and hopefully get further than that. So it really lies on them,” Labno said. “This is just the start, [but] we’ve got a lot more to do after this.”
Navtej Hundal is a freelance reporter based in Stanislaus County
