Andrea Lanatta-Valera had a sense of how big the Centurions’ season opener in flag football against Patrick Henry was in the larger picture: “This is our first home game, our first league game,” the cornerback/wide receiver said before warm-up drills prior to the game on Aug. 29. “I’m really excited about starting up this program.”
Lanatta-Valera, a senior who wants to study to be a veterinarian at UC Davis, talked about “encouraging women for sports”. After all, “Men’s football is a big sport,” she observed. UC took the contest, 18-12, in 90-degree heat.
University City got off to a slow start in the first 20-minute running half (with a stopped clock for the last two minutes of each half).
But as Bella Giron, a senior captain along with Lanatta-Valera, and linebacker Kylee Holguin, and her receivers got more in sync against a much larger Henry contingent (29 players vs. 16 for the home team), they started to click. Four cones marked each 20-yard first-down location, with the football field shortened to 80 yards.
Giron connected with sophomore Kianna LeFear on a fourth-down completion after an illegal Henry rush (only two players were allowed to rush) for the first TD in UC flag football history, tying the game at 6-6.
Then receiver Dannah Shinta, another sophomore, grabbed a Giron aerial for the second TD, making it 12-6 with under three and a half minutes to play in the opening half.
Bella found Shinta, a tall presence, again just before time ran out in the half for touchdown number three. That put UC into the halftime break leading 18-6 and bursting with confidence.
Centurion head coach Brian Josten was hired by athletic director David Asuncion to head the first girls flag football team in the school’s history. He had been an athletic director in earlier days. He and his assistant ran the girls through passing/defending drills before the game, and split into two groups, in an efficient, effective pattern to get them ready.
During the game, officials had to remind players to bring the football back from an incomplete pass to where it would be spotted again. All six other members of the offense are eligible to go out for passes from the QB. Every player wears three flags so they’re accessible to a defender. No blocking is allowed. Defending against the pass consists of contesting it with raised arms.
The quarterback can only keep the ball and run on one of the four downs during a series.
Punting on fourth down was handled by just declaring the intention to punt, the ball moved downfield where the opposing team started over.
Said Asuncion, “Our uniforms came out really well. They’re reversible,” a blue/white shirt over white shorts. The only challenge for an observer was spotting the player’s number on the front, with the shirt tucked in and some numbers disappearing part-way. But the large number on the back was clearly visible.
