The varsity girls flag football team took the field on a breezy Tuesday night in their much anticipated season opener vs Pittsburg High. A year after reaching the DAL championship game, the Dons returned to the gridiron with high expectations and a slew of returning talent. Pittsburg has similarly high expectations after reaching the North Coast Section playoffs last year. When the dust finally settled, the scoreboard showed a dominant 21 – 0 victory for the home team Dons over the visiting Pirates.
Led by 1st team all league defender Avery DeMent’s 10 tackles, the defense was stifling. DeMent’s carefully calculated angles and quick hands shut down the center of the field for Pittsburg’s offense. Senior Julia Munter spent the majority of her evening in the Pittsburg backfield disrupting play after play. Munter finished the game with 5 tackles and countless quarterback pressures. The Acalanes secondary smothered Pittsburg’s speedy receivers all night. Defensive backs Maya Shoenhair and June Natal both had drive-killing interceptions with impressive returns and rusher Mallory DeCredico iced the win with a sack of the Pittsburg quarterback in the endzone for a safety late in the 4th quarter. DeCredico’s safety was the first in the 3 year history of the program.
On offense, junior dual-threat quarterback Ines Coyne took the helm and confounded Pittsburg all night with both her arm and her legs. Coyne expertly faked out Pittsburg defenders while rushing for two touchdowns. Coyne also showed off her pocket mobility and arm strength enroute to passing for 141 yards with zero interceptions. 1st team all league wide receiver Shoenhair contributed on both sides of the ball, providing a reliable receiving outlet for Coyne. The sure handed Shoenhair finished with 3 receptions for 31 yards. Sensational sophomore running back Isabelle Agnost lit up the field all night with explosive plays. Agnost sliced and diced the Pittsburg defense both running and receiving, and finished with 128 all purpose yards and a touchdown. The Don’s jack of all trades was Natal who impacted all three phases of the game. Natal had an interception on defense and logged a tackle, snagged a reception on offense and returned three punts for 32 yards on special teams giving the Don’s offense excellent field position on all three occasions. Junior wide-out Mira Clark also got in on the scoring, hauling in a reception on a vital extra point.
As the clock hit triple zeros, one thing was clear. Veteran coaches Mike Ivanovich, Joe Escobar and their amazing staff had their players razor sharp for the Don’s season debut. A long summer of practicing, lifting weights and film sessions had clearly paid off. Next up is an away game at Carondelet on Tuesday 9/2. The game will be played at the legendary Spartan stadium of De La Salle. Go Dons!!
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