“All in” has been this year’s motto for the West Ranch flag football program. And after a 26-18 win over the Redlands Adventist Academy Bulldogs in the second round of the Division 4 playoffs on Friday, the Wildcats believe they’re the team to beat.
“We started off in Santa Barbara at a tournament, lost all three games, scored six points, got our butt kicked by every team. Who would’ve thought we’d be going to the third round of the playoffs right now,” West Ranch coach David Therasse said.
Going into every game this season, Therasse said his team had a goal on offense, be a “title wave.” And in Friday’s win over the Bulldogs, that’s exactly what his Wildcats did.
In the first quarter, the Wildcats opened with urgency and began with a 13-0 lead highlighted by junior quarterback Kara Carnes’ two touchdowns.
Therasse spoke on his team’s offense and mindset and how it benefits the Wildcats’ defense with in-game momentum.
“We have this mentality. It’s called a ‘tidal wave,’ And we want to go out, and we want to score a touchdown right now,” he said. “And then we stop them on defense, get the ball back and score again. That’s like getting by tidal waves … that’s our mentality.”
In the end, Carnes tossed for four touchdowns in the win on Friday. And throughout the first two rounds of the playoffs, Carnes has thrown for 10 touchdowns.
While the offense kicked off the Friday’s win with fireworks, the Wildcats’ defense stepped up with timely picks and deflections.
In the opening quarter’s final moments, the Wildcats forced the Bulldogs’ offense to commit a turnover on downs at the goal line. And in the third quarter, after West Ranch allowed a touchdown, Leila Barton recorded a timely pass deflection to prevent the two-point conversion, which would’ve brought the game to one-possession.
In the game’s final moments, Barton also recorded the game-winning sack at midfield which won the game for the Wildcats with their eight-point lead with less than a minute remaining.
For Therasse, everyone on defense contributed to the win and believes that his team executed from the line of scrimmage to the secondary to win on Friday.
“[Redlands] came out doing things we haven’t seen yet, and our defensive staff fixed things, and our girls figured it out,” he said. “We just didn’t want to give up the chunk plays … the defense has been going every week.”
With the win, the Wildcats advanced to the quarterfinals for the second-consecutive season and await the winner between the Kaiser Cats of Fontana and Serrano Diamondbacks, who play Saturday.
According to the Southern Section’s pre-determined coin flips for the quarterfinals, the Wildcats will play on the road on Tuesday regardless of the winner between Kaiser and Serrano.
For Therasse, although he’s getting ready for a road matchup, he said the Wildcats will be ready for whoever the team’s next opponent is and continue their playoff run.
“Whoever it is, we’re going to be out there,” he said. “And I just want these girls to have fun. We’re having a blast and it’s going to be so fun to have another chance in a football game.”
