By Molly Jones, Staff Writer
// A season of new beginnings has started for the Acalanes High School flag football team (3-1, 1-1 league) as they pave the way for this new sport.
The flag football team kicked off pre-season games by attending the Diablo Athletic League (DAL) Jamboree scrimmage at Alhambra High School on Aug. 26. The team played four games, the first two against Las Lomas and Northgate, resulting in a win against both teams. They later went on to play against Campolindo and Berean Christian, ending in a tie for both games. In another pre-season scrimmage, the team went up against Dublin High on Sept. 8 and defeated them 18-6.
“I think after this first game we now understand what we have to accomplish in order to get better, so I’m happy with today’s performance, real happy,” Head Coach Victor Silva said.
In their first game of the season on Sep. 13 the girls defeated Berean Christian 35-12 with touchdowns by Jenna Steele, Maya Shoenhair, Ella Thomason, and two from Kelly Todhunter. They also played College Park and won 12-6 with an important touchdown from Monica Dikova.
The team is just getting started and learning as they go. They face challenges as the season starts that come with being the first team for a new sport to Acalanes.
“We didn’t start till the first week of school, and we still don’t have jerseys. It took us a while to get a coach which is why we started so late, and then once it started, recruiting people. We are always trying to get more people to come out, and stuff like that. So just like finalizing the team and then finalizing our plays once we had the team,” senior Jenna Steele said.
In their very first season, they have high hopes for good results and to be a competitive team in the league.
“I mean all of us are really competitive, so we really want to win league and North Coast Section (NCS) if we have NCS playoffs, so I think those are our goals. But we also just really want to improve as a team since it’s our first year doing this,” senior Ella Thomason said.
While all new to flag football, the coaching staff are bringing in their coaching skills from other sports to help this team in its first year. These coaches include Mike Ivankovich, Steve Seidler, Joe Escobar, Erin Wong, Tom Shoeinhair, and Silva.
“I have the best coaches in the world, and they knew what to expect, I mean they’ve always coached boys, but they knew what we needed to do, to improve on. They’ve done a fantastic job and I can’t be happier with the coaching staff, they’ve been great,” Silva said.