To the uninitiated unfamiliar with a sport just now hitting the big time, girls flag football might seem like it should be video-game football, a high-scoring, up-and-down shootout with a spinning scoreboard.
That’s not the way El Paso’s best team, the Eastwood Trooper play it. That’s not the way they dominated El Dorado 26-0 at the SAC 2 to win the second-ever city championship, a year after they lost to familiar opponents to finish fourth.
The Troopers made the championship game when their star Mariana Macias ran in a late pick-6 to beat Americas 12-6 in the Houston Texans division title game (a de facto semifinal). Then she had two more interceptions (as well as a long touchdown reception) in the championship game.
With it, both the Troopers and the Aztecs advance to the inaugural eight-team Girls Flag Football Texas State Championship in Denton June 13-14.
“I told everybody at the beginning of the year we were going to win because of our defense,” said Eastwood coach Jaime Hernandez, whose team lost the semifinals to Americas last year, then lost the third-place game to El Dorado.
“We had 15 girls returning from last year. We knew with the senior leadership we had with Mari (Macias), Leah (Angelyah Galford) and Maya (Gandara) as our quarterback, we could do it.”
It helps having the best player on the field and that was Macias, who had four interceptions in the two games including the dramatic one late to top Americas in the Houston Texans final. She’s a free safety, but at times she looked more like Willie Mays patrolling centerfield.
“Last year she played corner for us, but we knew she was the best player in the city,” Hernandez said. “Her playing in middle of the field takes everything away. When we were game planning, she took the challenge. She’s our leader, she’s our captain. She was ready to go.”
Macias pointed to her teammates.
“Our defense is always on it,” she said. “Something we say: look at the players, play as a team, make sure you do your job and as long as you do your job you’re going to get the job done as a team.”
The two games were sweet for Eastwood, which avenged its two last-day losses from last year.
“It fueled us last year losing, especially to Americas,” said Macias, who is going to UTSA to study architecture next year but won’t be able to play flag football since the school doesn’t sponsor it. She also starred in soccer for Eastwood.
“We came with the mentality it’s not going to happen again,” she continued. “A lot of people picked (Americas) as the victor and we knew that wasn’t going to be the end result. It wasn’t.”
After the dramatic semifinal win the final was somewhat anti-climactic. The quarterback Gandara threw four touchdown passes in the title game, to Isabelle Sancez, Colette Mena, the long one to Macias and to Galford. Galford also caught a conversion pass.
“It was effort as a team,” said Gandara, who is going to Midland College to player her other favorite sport, volleyball. “All of us, as athletes in other sports, it shows we play for each other. It means a lot.”
She’s also fired up for the state tournament, which will feature four teams sponsored by the Texans and four, including El Dorado, sponsored by the Dallas Cowboys.
“It’s going to be an experience,” Gandara said. “A lot of competition, a lot of different girls we’ve never seen before. It’s going to be fun and very different.”
Obviously there is plenty of consolation for El Dorado getting to continue its season in Denton. The Aztecs earned that with a 14-0 win in the Dallas Cowboys final against Parkland, the newcomer to this year’s final four.
El Dorado moved up from third to second in its second season to keep its season alive.
“It’s a great experience,” El Dorado coach Matthew Berroteran said. “We love it, we enjoy coaching the girls, the girls love it. It’s a fun sport. … We’re excited to get the first-time experience of going to the state tournament.”
Like most of the teams in the final four, the Cowboys manager of youth football development, Danny McCray, a former star for both the Cowboys and on the TV show Survivor, was back at SAC 2 for the title games.
“It’s very exciting, one to see the growth of the game, to see the excitement around here, especially with so many fans around here,” McCray said. “You see true excitement of how they want their young ladies to excel and do great things on the field.
“We’re excited to see growth and continued momentum.”
El Paso’s newest sport built on that on a memorable championship day.
Girls Flag Football Texas State Championship
When: June 13-14
Where: DATCU Stadium at the University of North Texas, Denton
Format: Four Houston Texan teams, including Eastwood, and four Dallas Cowboys teams, including El Dorado, go through pool play on Saturday to establish sees for Sunday’s playoffs. Winners of the Texans and Cowboy divisions play for the title.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached, bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Eastwood tops El Dorado to wins girls’ flag football city championship
Reporting by Bret Bloomquist, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
