As Pitman High’s assistant wrestling coach and a combat sports aficionado, Matthew Vasconcellos could only describe Wednesday night’s flag football game between the Pride and their crosstown rival, Turlock High, one way: “That was like the first round of a three-round heavyweight fight.”
Vasconcellos, who is the team’s head coach, was all smiles alongside his players and staff after they came out on top of a defensive struggle with a 13-6 win in overtime at Joe Debely Stadium to improve to 8-0 overall and 3-0 in Central California Athletic League competition in their inaugural year. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, dropped to 8-3 overall and 2-1 in CCAL play.
Pitman possessed the ball first in the overtime period and found the endzone after just three plays. Isabel Fuentes kicked things off with a pair of catches, the first for 10 yards and the second for 9 to set her team at the half-yard line. The Pride then captured their first lead of the game after Sofia Martinez hauled in a toss from quarterback Elexi Pulido.
In Turlock’s turn to possess the ball at the 20-yard line, quarterback Cadee Campbell completed two of three passes for just six yards to set up a fourth-and-goal situation at the 13. After a scramble in the pocket, Campbell fired a strike into the back of the endzone that couldn’t be handled by intended receiver Ayla Lacerda.
“It feels very good to beat Turlock,” said Martinez, who admitted she wasn’t expecting to receive the ball on the game-winning play. “I wasn’t expecting it at all, but then Lexi saw me open, and I called for it because I was wide open, and she found me.
“I’m so happy she was able to find me for the win, because I would’ve been really mad if we didn’t end up winning this game. They’re a pretty good team, I just think we’re better.”
Coming into Wednesday’s game, the Pride were ranked by MaxPreps.com as the 88th-best team in California and No. 18 in the Sac-Joaquin Section. The Pride were ranked in the top 10 at the state and national levels, 7 and 8, respectively. The only team ranked higher than them in the Sac-Joaquin Section was Tokay of Lodi, who have an 11-0 record. Pitman’s win maintained each of those positions.
A low-scoring affair was the last thing both sides expected after the first 10 minutes of play Wednesday night. The Bulldogs received the ball first and scored two plays in with a 3-yard connection from quarterback Cadee Campbell to Alondra Zuniga. The touchdown was set up by a 57-yard reception by Isis Cosio. Nine minutes later, the Pride capped off an eight-play drive with a 1-yard pass from quarterback Elexi Pulido to Isabel Fuentes. Both teams couldn’t convert for the extra point, and the score remained the same for the remainder of regulation.
“I was just extremely proud of the way we handled some adversity early in the game,” Vasconcellos said. “We haven't given up a big touchdown on a first drive, first play or anything like that, and that kind of hit us. I think that was just the environment, the magnitude of tonight. But they got it together and I'm just really proud of the way they responded to that.
“This game where we came from behind then scored in overtime to win, it just showed some championship mentality for such a young team. We've only played eight games.”
The Bulldog defense, despite not being able to make the overtime stop, also received praise from their head coach, Aaron King. He was proud of the fact that his team held the Pride to 13 points despite the girls in green having outscored opponents 242-58 coming into Wednesday’s contest.
“The defense looked really good,” he said. “They showed a lot of toughness. It takes a lot to hold a team like Pitman that’s been putting up crooked numbers against teams all season.
“Our offense had some miscues on route running, we had some dropped passes, we had some throws that shouldn't have been made. It was a combination of things. And Pitman’s defense may have forced some of that. That Pitman defense was good. I'm not taking anything away from them. They played well. They played with a lot of mental toughness. But I just think we will fine tune our offense, we'll be fine moving forward.”
Both teams will be back in action on Monday at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs will look to get back on track when they travel to Modesto to take on Gregori. The Pride hope to keep the wins coming when they play host to a winless Modesto High team.
The crosstown rivals will meet again at Pitman High on Sept. 30. The season series will wrap up back at Joe Debely Stadium on Oct. 16.
