Down 13-7 at halftime, Menlo’s varsity girls flag football team stormed back behind junior quarterback Ava Allen’s four-touchdown performance to capture the sport’s first-ever CCS championship, 27-13, over Los Gatos on Saturday evening. Sophomores Anika Shah and Kaelee Wang each recorded two interceptions, fueling the Knights’ defense.
After Menlo went three-and-out to start the game, Los Gatos pulled off a trick-play punt return, disguising which player had the ball and running it back for a touchdown to take a 7-0 lead. Menlo responded immediately with an Allen rushing touchdown to tie the game on its next drive.
The Knights’ offense, however, was stagnant for the rest of the half, as the Wildcats picked off Allen twice. Late in the second quarter, Los Gatos sophomore quarterback Helena Younan hit junior Kendall Feichtmeir on a long touchdown pass to give the Wildcats a six-point halftime lead.
From there, Menlo took control on both sides of the ball. Allen scored two more rushing touchdowns, and the Knights’ defense tightened up, forcing three interceptions. With under two minutes left, Allen found senior Maren Mulloy for a touchdown to seal the win.
“The past two years, we’ve been really dominant, but this year we faced some adversity along the way, so just to come out on top and win CCS together means a lot,” Allen said. “And for any of the teams who thought they were better than us, or that they could beat us or thought we were falling off, I think it just proves that we’re still the best and we’re still here to play.”
