Middle linebacker and rush Camryn Goss (10) blocked the path of an advancing Rancho Bernardo ball carrier during the third quarter, snatching her flag to cut the Bronco drive short of the end zone, en route to the Wolverines’ 42-7 win, Sept. 29.
Westview’s suffocating defense carried the team throughout the game, intercepting four Bronco passes.
“Our defense did especially [well] this game, the other rush [and I] did a good job locking down the quarterback,” Goss said. “We put a lot of pressure on [the quarterback] to make bad passes, and I’m really proud of my team.”
According to quarterback and captain Mya Omisore (12), both the defense and offense played well by fixing previous mistakes and running every opportunity possible.
“[On offense], we improved on our spacing and also we didn’t have as many small mistakes like the wrong routes or dropping passes,” Omisore said. “[On defense], something that we did really good was scoring on the extra points and something that we improved on would be pulling flags and catching interceptions on defense.”
Despite this year being only flag football’s second year as an official CIF sport at Westview, Goss said that the season has been very successful, largely due to the team’s bond.
“It’s really exciting that our new sport at Westview has been doing so well,” Goss said. “Something that contributes to our success is our chemistry on the field and overall within our team. I think it’s important to bond with your teammates outside of games and practices because it contributes to that chemistry.”
Flag football is many of the girls’ secondary sport, for Goss who plays soccer, it helps her stay active during off-season by offering low pressure enjoyment.
“There are different aspects of soccer and flag that relate to each other,” Goss said. “For example, the fast pace of flag football, especially me playing rush, helps me be more on top of things in soccer. It’s also really fun to have a supportive group of athletes together with low pressure. I [also] continue playing because there is a large sense of community within the team. ”
Omisore said the team hopes to build on last year’s momentum for another run towards a CIF championship.
“We’ve only had two losses so far, so we should be in the top division for CIFs,” she said. “I’m pretty confident in [our] team this year, I see us winning CIFs. We’ve played and beat a lot of good teams already. Flag is most of our second sport and our coaches teach other sports, [and] it’s pretty much the same girls from last year so we all know what we are doing.”
According to Omisore, even with plenty of veteran players, there are still details the team must work on.
“Although we did well [in the game against the Broncos], our defense still misses a lot of flags, so [the opposing team] will just run the ball and get into the end zone pretty quickly,” Omisore said. “Offensively, I’d say our spacing and catching the passes is still our biggest struggle.”
Omisore said that although she is captain and quarterback, she doesn’t feel too much pressure because she has the support of her teammates.
“As captain, it’s my responsibility to make sure everyone is on the same page throughout the game and help those who aren’t,” Omisore said. “The girls are funny with me [being captain], they’ll say ‘yes, captain’ and dog on me a little bit. We’re just such an overall [unified] team and we all play really well together. I feel like there’s not a lot of pressure on the individual to perform well because everybody does their role and we have each other. As the quarterback, I deal [with pressure] by having fun with it, the girls are really good at keeping me calm. We’re pretty close, so making jokes on the sideline and laughing takes away a lot of the pressure.”
