sports 15
Team dominates local tournaments
Flag football captures two championships, takes aim at State By Alexis Lane
T
wo tournament trophies earned in dominant fashion. The flag football team won their first State championship last year and are continuing their winning ways with three tournament wins at Shadow Ridge and four victories at Virgin Valley In Mesquite at the Virgin Valley Invitational, the Gators rode their defense to a title as they finished with three shutouts, including a 19-0 win over Virgin Valley in the championship game on Dec. 7. The Shadow Ridge tournament took place at Shadow Ridge HS on Jan. 3-4 and the team captured another first place trophy. GV defeated the host Mustangs 20-6 in the title game. “Our hard work really separates us as a team, plus us all working together,” junior Cuicani Waialae-Munoz said. “Shadow Ridge was very competitive and it just came down to who wanted it more.” Junior Alexa Mansur has played flag football for three years and made varsity her sophomore year. She explained her bond with her team and how they work together to achieve their goals. Their success comes from individual success and coming together as a team to actively communicate. “Our weaknesses come from our own mistakes, but that’s when we just
,We,definitely thrive
off the high energy of each other during any game or tournament, which allows us to succeed.
,,
Alexa Mansur
pick each other up and encourage each other to keep going which definitely helps us overcome things. We always try to be resilient, and if something isn’t going our way, we just have to remind ourselves that we’re just in our own heads and that it’s okay to make a mistake, because you can always make up for it,” Mansur said. After the team wins a game, they
Thrice as nice - Varsity flag football celebrates capturing their third straight Virgin Valley Invitational title on Saturday, Dec. 7.
courtesy of Chris Zinke
sing the school’s fight song to celebrate. They also have a pregame routine of giving each other words of encouragement to help each other focus. They have team bonding activities off the field that keep them connected as well. After their season ended last year, their coaches took them to a Brazilian jiu-jitsu studio to learn women’s self defense for a couple of hours. During season, the girls often grab drinks at Dutch Bros. after practice. Being such a close knit group has its benefits on the field. “We definitely thrive off the high energy of each other during any game or tournament, which allows us to succeed,” Mansur said. “We are a close group and it makes us better.” The girls take the process of winning very seriously with every game, tournament, and practice. They always go over basic fundamentals that are always used in games. Their offensive coordinator tells the girls to play the game the way it is supposed to be played, which is to play to win. The team has demonstrated that one of their key components to success is communication. During games and tournaments, the team has had struggles but they have been able to retaliate and come together as a team to find a way to win. “Both offense and defense, we always have each others backs. If defense doesn’t make a good play, offense is going out there to make a
good play. If the offense doesn’t execute a good play then defense will go out there and get the ball back for us. We just come back stronger, so we all work together as a team and that’s one thing that actually pulls us together,” Waialae-Munoz said. Between the two tournaments, the Shadow Ridge tournament was the more difficult one because of the competition. Their opponents from Shadow were seen as bigger and very physical, giving the team a different challenge. The team focused on overcoming the physical disadvantage as they progressed through the bracket. “I think in the Shadow Ridge tournament we saw better competi-
tion, and we had to play a little more focused to win that tournament over the Mesquite tournament,” varsity head coach David Torrez said. Last year, the team won their first State championship, defeating Bonanza. The goal for the 2019-20 season is to get back in a position to have a chance to defend their title. “We don’t look at the State game as the ultimate goal. We focus on the process of getting there so that every game and every practice is part of the process to get where we need to be,” Torrez said. “If we lose sight of that process, which is the present, then the future can’t happen and we won’t do well when we’re there.”
Alexis Lane
February 2020
