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Orange Lutheran and JSerra’s girls flag football teams impressively cleared their respective hurdles Saturday to set up a clash for the CIF-SS Division 1 championship.
No. 2 seeded Orange Lutheran intercepted three passes, including two by senior Julia Oberholtzer, to race past visiting No. 3 Huntington Beach 33-0 in the semifinals.
No. 1-ranked and undefeated JSerra advanced earlier in the night with a 20-0 victory in the semifinals at fourth-seeded Dos Pueblos behind three interceptions by freshman Tessa Russell.
Oberholtzer and Russell both returned an interception for a touchdown as the Trinity League rivals finalized a showdown in the Division 1 final on Saturday, Nov. 8 at El Modena High.
“Trinity League teams, they’re a different animal,” said Huntington Beach coach Zack Pannell, whose team a 21-game winning streak snapped. “We had a great season.”
Makena Cook tossed three of her four touchdowns in the second half as Orange Lutheran (24-) — the reigning Division 1 champion — extended a 7-0 lead at halftime.
The junior connected with Josie Anderson for a 5-yard touchdown and Oberholtzer for a 33-yard strike in the third.
In the fourth, Oberholtzer’s first interception led to 25-yard touchdown from Cook to Ava Harrison.
Oberholtzer capped the scoring by returning an interception 17 yards for a score.
Orange Lutheran disguised coverage and pressured Roxie Shaia in handing Huntington Beach (25-2) its first shutout. Izzy Thomas overcame sickness to record a sack while freshman Happy Dubois created havoc as a pass rusher and grabbed an interception.
“We know that Roxie is a really good quarterback,” Orange Lutheran coach Kristen Sherman said. “Our goal was to make her as uncomfortable as possible.”
Huntington Beach almost scored at the end of the first half. Senior standout Taylor Savage was stopped on a reception on the Orange Lutheran 1 with six seconds left. The Lancers then forced an incompletion on the final.
“Whether (Savage) was in or wasn’t in, we got to punch it in there. That’s a big momentum swing,” Pannell said of the sequence. “It’s a different ballgame going into the second half (tied) 7-7.”
JSerra defeated Orange Lutheran twice en route to the Trinity League title.
“Our theme (this season) was raise the bar,” Sherman said. “To be able to be (to the finals) back to back years really does raise the ball and what the expectations are. And (we’re) really thankful to get another crack at JSerra.”
In other semifinals Saturday:
In Division 2:
Corona del Mar 27, Newbury Park 18: Addison Stern threw a touchdown on fourth-down to Brooke Morrison and Samantha Matlaf added an interception to lead the visiting Sea Kings (17-14) to their first final. Corona del Mar plays Westlake in the championship.
In Division 5:
Anaheim 32, Vasquez 7: Sophia Sewell had five interceptions and Ashley Guzman added four to lead the host Colonists (15-10) to their first final. Anaheim takes on Castaic in the championship.