ORANGE — Orange Lutheran’s girls flag football team survived its toughest test of the season Tuesday, beating Trinity League foe Santa Margarita 20-13 at Orange Lutheran High.
Orange Lutheran (18-0, 3-0) is ranked No. 1 in the Register’s Top 10 and is ranked No. 1 in the nation by MaxPreps. Santa Margarita (11-3, 1-1) is ranked No. 3 in Orange County.
The Lancers forced three interceptions inside of their own 1-yard line which made the difference in the game.
“We bent a lot more than we wanted to today, but ‘bend but don’t break’ was kind of our mentality there,” Orange Lutheran coach Kristen Sherman said. “It was good for us to face a little bit of adversity. I think we needed to have our backs against the wall and this was a good opportunity for that.”
Sophomore Josie Anderson had two of those interceptions, including the game-sealing interception with 33 seconds remaining in the game.
“I am pretty proud of myself because I was nervous before the game because I knew Santa Margarita was a strong team,” Anderson said. “I was just doing anything I could to not let anything get behind me.”
Anderson also had a big catch to covert a third down and caught an extra-point.
“She was an ‘American Ninja Warrior’ as a child and we see that ability all the time in practice,” Sherman said. “We love to see her just go up and get it. That second one in particular, coming down on her back and catching it was pretty outstanding.”
Santa Margarita gave Orange Lutheran everything it could handle. Mackenzie Young intercepted an Orange Lutheran pass with 1:06 remaining in the game to set up the potential game-tying scoring drive.
“I’m proud of the girls for the way they played,” Santa Margarita coach Brad Finneran said. “Just a couple mistakes in the red zone hurt us, but we will learn from it and we get another chance at them so we’ll see how that goes.”
Makena Cook threw three touchdown passes for Orange Lutheran to three different receivers. The sophomore was named first team All-County last season and was the Trinity League MVP.
“This decision, her decision making and maturity, is at a different spot from where it was last year,” Sherman said of Cook. “You could see her arm talent last year, but this year you can see her ability to take what the defense gives her and not just always throw the ball down the field.”
“I think she’s the best quarterback in the country as far as throwing the football.”
Santa Margarita scored first on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Madi Lam to Fiona Agius.
Lam transferred to Santa Margarita from Esperanza after leading the Aztecs to an undefeated season as a sophomore. She averages 230 yards passing per game and has 34 touchdowns with eight interceptions this season.
Orange Lutheran tied the game on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Cook to Julia Oberholtzer.
Oberholtzer caught a 53-yard touchdown pass in the first half to extend Orange Lutheran’s lead to 13-7.
“When she’s consistent catching the ball, I think she is one of the best receivers in the Southern Section,” Sherman said. “We love moving her around on defense too because she can really play anywhere. She was an all-league corner last year and is playing linebacker this year.”
Lam threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Avery Finneran near the end of the first half to tie the game at 13. Finneran also caught an extra-point in the first half.
Orange Lutheran opened the second half with a scoring drive capped by a 5-yard touchdown pass from Cook to Ruby Fuamatu.
AJ Hendrix had an interception for Orange Lutheran in the end zone with five minutes remaining in the game. Kaylie Whitsell had a sack for the Lancers.
Young led Santa Margarita in receiving in the second half. Fallon Boyle had a sack for the Eagles.
