It took all four quarters, but for the second-consecutive season, the West Ranch Wildcats are back in the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Division 4 flag football championship following a 24-21 win over Hemet in the semifinals on Saturday.
“I hate getting out of routine. So, we were completely out of our routine, playing on a Saturday,” West Ranch coach David Therasse said. “Our girls hung tight, instead of hanging their heads. They hung tight, and they kept playing.”
For the Wildcats, it’s the second-consecutive season the team is in the Division 4 championship game.
Last year, the Wildcats fell to the Poly Bears of Riverside and finished the season as Division 4 CIF finalist under Mark Hornberger.
This season, Therasee took over as the head coach of the program and said all year that the 2026 season wasn’t going to be easy.
He always said this year’s players were resilient, and in Saturday’s win, his team’s character was on display, especially on defense.
“The girls just play hard,” he said. “These girls were so resilient, so awesome today. I’m speechless.”
In Saturday’s win, junior quarterback Kara Carnes tossed for 298 yards and four touchdowns en route to the victory. Sophomore receiver Rochelle Clark came down with three touchdown receptions and tallied 163 yards.
Following the game, Therasse credited the success on offense to the team’s chemistry and ability to have fun throughout all four quarters that keeps the team focused on the bigger picture: having fun.
“I said when I took this job, boys need to win to have fun, but girls need to have fun to win. So, I want them to be out here having fun,” he said. “We’ve had the girls cheering on the sidelines yelling and screaming. Sometimes we got to be able to tell them to be quiet. So, we’ve got a lot of cheerleaders and energy that’s on the field.”
As for the Division 4 championship, the Wildcats are set to travel down to Huntington Beach High School for the title game and match up against the Valley Christian Defenders of Cerritos.
The Defenders enter Saturday’s matchup on the heels of a 33-19 win over Santa Paula in the semifinals, their 16th win of the season.
As the Wildcats look to prepare for Saturday’s title game against Valley Christian, Therasse is looking to see his team improve throughout the week until the finals and to finish the job his Wildcats started a season ago.
“You always want to improve on last year – it’s my first year – but you always want to improve from last year,” he said. “It’s going to be a tough thing to do, but we just did it. We’re exactly the same spot where we were last year. Now, we just got to go and win it all.”
Saturday’s Division 4 championship between the Defenders and the Wildcats is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. at Huntington Beach High School.
