Mountain View’s varsity flag football team defeated Los Altos 25-18 in a strong performance on Thursday, Sept. 25.
This was the second time the two teams clashed this season, the first being a scrimmage held earlier this season, which Mountain View lost. The Spartans, having beaten Wilcox on Monday, were eager to earn a victory in front of their home crowd.
The game started action-packed with both the offense and defense making successful plays. During the Eagles’ first drive, Mountain View’s defense was quick to make moves as senior Alana Hernandez intercepted the ball and returned it 30 yards to the endzone for the first score of the game.
However, Los Altos responded with a long drive, scoring a touchdown and tying the score 6-6.
“I knew whoever was going [to score] the next point [was] going to be the team that has the momentum to get the win,” coach John Payne said
The Spartan offense made critical plays on their next drive, moving the team closer to the endzone. Hernandez scored another touchdown, bringing the score to 12-6.
Payne highlighted sophomore Megan Pan as a crucial component of the Spartan offense.
“Megan Pan was just running the hell out of that ball, ” Payne said.
The rest of the team followed Pan’s performance with junior quarterback Kaila Matsumoto connecting with junior Leilani Tanielu for the Spartans’ third touchdown. The Spartans completed their extra point attempt, increasing the lead to 19-6.
After a quick Los Altos touchdown reduced the MVHS lead to 19-12, the Spartans responded with Tanielu scoring her second touchdown of the game to make the score 25-12.
MVHS was unable to move the ball much further, but a late Los Altos touchdown was not enough to come back, and the game ended 25-18 in favor of the Spartans.
Hernandez said that the team played with an underdog mentality after losing to Los Altos in the scrimmage earlier in the year.
“We knew if we came out hard and we played how we [were] supposed to play, everything was going to go our way,” Hernandez said.
