Heading into his third season as the head coach of Orestimba High School’s flag football team, John Labno wanted to let it be known that his team is ready to go all out until the final whistle.

In the past two seasons, the Warriors have shown signs of improvement. After finishing with a 10-9 record in its inaugural season, Orestimba improved to 21-7 overall and finished first in the Trans-Valley League standings the following year before falling short to league rival Hughson High in the semifinals of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Division 4 p

layoffs 

With the majority of its roster returning, the Warriors were determined to continue their case as among the top teams in the Trans-Valley League. Stepping foot on the gridiron for the first time this season, the Warriors proved just that as they dominated and won the Orestimba Run and Shoot Tournament on Saturday.

The Warriors defeated East Union High School of Manteca in the tournament’s championship match, 19-6. Prior to the championship game, both teams won three of its qualifying matches to advance. Orestimba cruised past Mariposa County, Berean Christian and Gregori High School.

Throughout the tournament, one player stood out amongst the rest: Warriors’ wide receiver Imelda Beltran. Beltran, coming off a 408 receiving yards season, made her presence known on Saturday from scoring in the endzone to returning multiple pick-sixes.

Labno praised Beltran’s growth as a player and described her ability to read defenses to be “amazing”.

“[Beltran] is absolutely dynamic, just the different things that she can do,” Labno said about Beltran’s performance. “She can catch all kinds of [passes], and once she gets [the ball] in her hands, she can do just about anything with it.”

An emphasis Beltran focused on going into this season was using her emotions as an advantage on the field such as moving faster with her speed and agility. Those strengths have built her confidence in winning one-on-ones against her defenders. 

“Sometimes I get over-excited and overworked that it could turn into anger, but I try to move it more into speed, agility, focus and it really has helped me, and I feel like I’m improving along that part,” she said. “That helps me gain confidence and be able to see [a mismatch], even though they might be a good player,”

The first quarter of the championship was highlighted with both team’s being stagnant offensively with dropped passes to not converting fourth downs. The drought ended in the following quarter when Orestimba’s quarterback Hailey Starr found Beltran cutting toward the endzone to give the Warriors a 6-0 lead heading into halftime.

During the team’s opening drive of the second half, Starr found an open Beltran who led a huge gain of yardage to set the Warriors at East Union’s 3-yard line. This led to a running touchdown from Mariah Monero, giving the Warriors a two-score lead, 12-0.

As East Union continued to struggle with not getting a down conversion to receiving flags on multiple plays, head coach Steve Jackson voiced his frustration on the sidelines and called a timeout in one case to talk with his players.

The discussion seemed to motivate the players as later in the quarter, Starr was picked off by an East Union player who returned the ball near Orestimba’s endzone. This set up East Union scoring their first touchdown and making a one-score game heading into the final quarter, 12-6.

Following multiple possessions where both teams failed to score, Orestimba found themselves within East Union territory. On third down with East Union having no timeouts, the Warriors just needed to convert for a first down to win. Instead, they decided to go for it.

Starr passed to Beltran on the left side of the endzone, sealing the game and tournament for Orestimba.

The decision to go for a touchdown rather than just go for a first down was suggested by offensive coordinator Louie Dominguez, Labno said. Had Orestimba not got a first down or scored, there was a chance that East Union would’ve won the game.

Beltran shared the similar sediment as Dominguez, wanting to score on the possession.

“I was repeating to my coach a couple plays back to, ‘Let’s go for it, let’s go for it,’” she said, “I kept pushing until I got him to actually run the play I wanted. And it turned out to be a touchdown.”

With a 4-0 start, the Warriors’ will look to continue their momentum as they begin a four-game homestand starting with El Capitan High School on Monday at 7 p.m. The Gauchos enter Monday’s contest at 3-0 and have defeated Orestimba in back-to-back seasons.

Navtej Hundal is a freelance journalist in Stanislaus County.