Since losing the first game of the season to Knight, West Ranch girls’ flag football has won six in a row and is undefeated in the Foothill League to start the year.
The Wildcats defeated Canyon, 27-6, on the road for their fourth league win of the year.
West Ranch (6-1, 4-0) came to Canyon High School to hot off a big win over defending league champions Hart on the road earlier in the week.
“This team across from us is going to be good,” Wildcats’ head coach Mark Hornberger said. “They got a lot of grit, they have got a lot of good players. And it’s a grind every week. We’re thankful for the win.”
Once the game kicked off against the Cowboys (2-4, 1-2), the Wildcats found themselves behind.
In the closing minutes of the first half, West Ranch drove down the field but struggled to punch the ball into the end zone.
Down 7-0 after Canyon’s quarterback Jodie Noche scrambled in for the touchdown in the first quarter, Hornberger drew up a trick play to kick-start his offense after the slow start.
West Ranch quarterback Hailey Hornberger threw a backward pass to receiver Kara Carnes, who connected with Gayane Aleksanyan in the end zone to tie the game at 7 apiece.
“We were just trying to switch it up a bit,” Hornberger said. “We were a little stagnant and we weren’t in the flow because we just had come off a big game last night and we were a little flat. So, I just wanted to kind of kick-start the engine a little bit with a little double pass and something a little different because [Canyon] were playing really tough defense on us.”
West Ranch winded up not scoring again in the third quarter, but in the opening minutes of the fourth, the Wildcats’ offense exploded.
Wildcats quarterback Hornberger threw a touchdown pass to Alora Glass to extend the lead over Canyon, 13-7. And on the following drive, Savannah Patton picked off Canyon’s Noche for a pick-six.
“Whenever she gets an interception like that, I see that look in her eye, where she wants to score,” Hornberger said. “I saw that look in her eye, and I had a feeling that she was going to take to the house, and she did.”
Down 20-7, Canyon punted the ball on a three-and out, but before the Wildcats’ offense could take the field, Patton ran in the punt return for a touchdown.
“She’s a stud,” Hornberger said. “She’s always been a stud. Great player, great player on defense, has a nose for the ball. Great intuition, the timing that she has even on offense and defense, it’s really remarkable.”
With back-to-back wins over Hart and Canyon in back-to-back days, Hornberger still wants his team to keep working and believes there is still a lot to learn from these rivalry games.
“We’re building, we’re still working out some kinks, working off the rust, it’s a process,” Hornberger said. “I told the girls earlier today, it’s a grind and we’re just going to learn from the wins, we’re going to learn from the losses, and it’s look forward to the rest of the year.”
West Ranch plays again on Monday at home, hosting Valencia with kickoff scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
