CORONA:  The flag football team moved to .500 on the season with a win over Centennial on Monday.  The Wolves built an early lead going into halftime up 19-6. Centennial came back in the second half to come within one score.

The game turned out to be a nail biter when Centennial got the ball back with just over a minute to play near mid field. Centennial drove the ball down to the King seven-yard line with 2 seconds left in the game. King’s defense came up huge on the final play of the game as sophomore linebacker Annabelle Distel sacked the quarterback to end the game for a King win.

Freshman QB Julianna Magdaleno accounted for four touchdowns (3 rushing, 1 passing) and no interceptions..  Sophomore wide receiver Mia Sudbrack had a 40-yard touchdown catch on a bomb from Magdaleno. Senior receivers Jazmin Brayard and Anaya Sega also had long receptions to set up touchdowns on two separate drives. Sophomore running back Ireland Fitzpatrick had five receptions where she made multiple defenders miss her flags and turned short catches into sizable gains, several of which resulted in crucial first downs.

On defense, Junior linebacker Bailey Mann made an interception on Centennial’s 15-yard line which set up the King offense with a short field, leading to their second touchdown of the game. Annabelle Distel pressured the Centennial quarterback throughout the game and made the game winning sack to end the game.

At 9-9, the team can keep alive their hopes of making CIF. King will find out later in the week if they continue on to the CIF playoffs.

Regardless of that outcome, King makes the playoffs or not, it was a great team win with both the offense and defense making big plays at crucial moments in the game to finish the regular season with an exciting victory.

If King continues on into the playoffs, we will need to use the experience we have gained playing in many tough, close games throughout the regular season to weather the momentum shifts throughout games and continue to fight to the end of each game to give ourselves a chance for wins.