There was excitement in the air as the girls flag football team celebrated on the field after winning the Division II CIF championship, Nov. 23. Their 39-24 victory over Carlsbad High School at Palomar College made Westview history as the first ever team to capture a CIF championship in their debut season. Wide receiver London Davis (12) said the team’s success this season has made her proud and set the bar for all future players.
“It was really exciting because this was our first year, our inaugural season,” Davis said. “Playing flag football here, playing Division II, and winning CIFs is a very big accomplishment for the school. That’s what motivated us in the first place because we knew it, so we wanted to win and get the championship title.”
Quarterback Mya Omisore (11) led the team by assisting six touchdowns within the two-half span of the game. The offensive skill of the team allowed Omisore to pass the ball to any number of teammates. Wide receiver Lily Wallace (11) attributed their success to the team’s strong communication on the field.
“There’s a sense of trust in being able to connect with your team and relying on your players and [trusting] that they will be there,” Wallace said. “Especially, trusting that our quarterback will throw the right person the ball and that they will catch it. We all trust each other the same amount and we don’t have to rely fully on one player to make a play. It can go to anyone, and we’ll still succeed.”
The team gained an early lead in the game, scoring two touchdowns in the first quarter. This momentum carried them through the entire game and allowed them to maintain a sizeable lead for the majority of the game.
Throughout their run this season, Davis said the team prioritized bonding between teammates to work cohesively and effectively. She said that their technical success in the championship game had a lot to do with their camaraderie and team spirit.
“During practice, we tried to focus on our team chemistry and going into the game with a better mentality,” Davis said. “We started doing the chants that [students] do at boys football games and things like that to bring more energy.”
With a majority of the touchdowns coming from 20+-yard runs this season, the team prides themselves in their diversity of skills due to a wide range of sports played, according to Davis. She also attribute their excellent team chemistry to their previous experience playing other sports together.
“Our team is very athletic,” Davis said. “A majority of our team plays soccer, and we have a few basketball and field hockey players. On our whole team, there’s not one person that doesn’t play another sport, and I think that really had a big part in our team. We already had the athleticism, so that made all the technical plays and running easy.”
In the first half of the game, Omisore was able to fake out the other team by throwing the ball to a different teammate than expected by the opposing defense.
“A lot of the time, you’ll see our quarterback pass to [Soraya Souvanaphong (12)] and it makes the other team think ‘Soraya is so good at catching, let’s mark her,’” Davis said. “But in the championship game, we had a play where Soraya fell on the ground, and their whole team was looking at her. You could then see Omisore take advantage of it and throw an open pass to another person.”
At the end of the game, with 20 seconds left, a 15 point lead, and possession of the ball, Westview knew that their hard work had paid off as they ran down the clock and began to celebrate their victory.
“We definitely expected that we were going to make it to the championship; we had a really good season,” Davis said. “From the beginning, as soon as we found out we were Division II, we were like ‘Yeah, we’re winning. We got this.’”
