Margeil Garcia added six sacks to her nation-leading total, and the relentless pressure on the quarterback helped lead to four interceptions — including a pick-six — in Sierra’s 22-8 Valley Oak League win at rival East Union on Tuesday.
“The defense did a great job,” Sierra coach Chris Zalunardo said. “We knew we were up against a good quarterback and a bunch of good receivers, so we just had to work hard, read the quarterback, read the field and most importantly, put pressure on the quarterback. Margeil is amazing at that.”
Garcia set the tone on Sierra’s first drive on defense, tallying her first two sacks of the game. She recorded three in each half and now has 28 on the season.
“Every time I rush, I can hear my teammates yelling my name, and that really pushes me,” Garcia said.
Two-way standout Janessa Barnes had limited touches on offense (33 yards, touchdown) but made her presence felt on the other side of scrimmage. She accounted for two of the interceptions, the first of which was returned 76 yards for a game-changing touchdown with 7:15 left in the first half. Garcia played a big part, as her rush forced East Union quarterback Julianna Gaspar to rush a check-down throw to the flat that Barnes read all the way.
The ensuing two-point try — a pass from Maitland Kohoutek to Priya Dhaliwal — doubled the Timberwolves’ lead to 16-0.
“I saw (Garcia) going in, and I knew immediately she was going to make the QB scramble,” Barnes said of her pick-six. “Her effort on that just made it easy to read. She completely gave that to me.”
Taylor Zalunardo contributed four tackles, two pass deflections and a second-half interception since Sierra’s own 5-yard line. She came into the game as the second-leading tackler in the nation, according to MaxPreps.
Kohoutek capped the defensive gem for Sierra (3-0 VOL, 10-4 overall) with the team’s fourth interception of the night.
“That pick-six was crucial,” East Union coach Steve Jackson said. “We were on the 3-yard line, and that girl is an athlete who makes a great play. Now we’re down two scores.”
His Lancers (2-1, 8-3) did well to shut out Sierra in the second half, but the damage was too much to overcome.
The Timberwolves took a 22-0 lead into halftime after Kohoutek (7-of-16 passing, 49 yards) hit center Alison Cozby for an 11-yard touchdown in the final seconds.
Ava Barrera (five receptions, 103 yards) scored East Union’s lone touchdown on a 36-yard catch-and-run. The drive, the Lancers’ second of the latter half, was earlier kept alive by Gwen Baker’s 31-yard reception on third-and-21. Gaspar connected with Barrera again on the two-point try.
Gaspar completed 14 of 32 passes for 214 yards. The sophomore gunslinger started out hot, connecting on seven of her first eight attempts, but she was ultimately done in by nine dropped passes and Sierra’s pressure.
“Those things can’t happen, obviously,” Jackson said. “We’ve been able to make those catches, and that’s why we’ve been somewhat successful, but against a good, quality team like that, you can’t have drops or bad throws. You have to make those plays, and we just did not do that tonight, whether it was because of their pressure, which was outstanding, or just us being a little timid.
You’re not going to beat a quality team like Sierra when you make that many mistakes. We’ll try to clean it up, and we have to clean it up fast.”
Sierra also won the junior varsity game, 12-6.
The two-game set shifts to Sierra on Thursday. These are the first two flag football games between these intra-city rivals.
“The rivalry just really intensifies in the game,” Garcia said. “I’m just really happy we’re able to do it on this field, and hopefully we can do the same thing at our place.”
