Emily Ota | Writer
November 7, 2024
This Saturday, San Clemente High School’s first ever varsity flag football team is advancing to the CIF championship. Their impressive season consists of 12 wins, 10 losses, and 1 tie so far, ranking them at #26 in the Southern Section. Their upcoming game is against Troy High School, away at Fred Kelly Stadium.
Troy’s flag team has an intimidating record of 16-3-3, but San Clemente players, such as junior Lacey Lou Haggar, are feeling “really confident and really excited.” Haggar, the team’s safety, expressed that she has no nerves and is putting her trust in her team to get the job done. This game is extremely important to Haggar, who was out for most of the season due to a shattered pinky finger. She has played a couple games back, but Saturday will be the most important by far, and she knows she has to play her best to win it all. Haggar spoke for her team when she said that she did “not think [they] would get this far during the season, but now [they] have the mentality that [they] have gone too far to lose.”
Now that they have the chance to win the whole thing, the team wants it extremely bad. The girls overcame substantial odds to get into the championship game in the first place. Haggar explained that the team was told the only way to get into CIF was to beat Dana Hills, and they lost. However, Dana beat Beckman High School in an upset, leaving SCHS to play Dana once more. The team worked hard and secured the win, leading them to CIF.
Mrs. Dimperio, known as Coach Dimperio on the field, stated that to win their game, the team “needs to keep a positive mindset and play [their] hardest the whole game.” Haggar agreed with her coach, expressing how they fall apart when they turn against each other and stressing the importance of communication. Dimperio felt that the “team has improved drastically” and knows that no matter the outcome, the championship will be a great game.
Dimperio and Haggar are extremely proud of the girls and both loved their first season with flag football. The sport was not only exciting due to their long season, but also due to the fun and safe environment created for the players.
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