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IMPERIAL — The ninth-seeded Carlsbad High School girls flag football team won their third consecutive road CIF San Diego Section Division 2 playoff game, downing the fifth-seeded Imperial Tigers 37-13 at Shimamoto-Simpson Field on Tuesday night.
Carlsbad now has one more road game left — albeit one that’s closer to home. The Lancers (15-9-1) will play Westview (15-3) on Saturday at Palomar College for the Division 2 section championship. Kickoff is 2 p.m.
“After the CIF brackets came out we started calling ourselves the road dogs, and we embraced it,” Carlsbad coach Lance Thomas said. “We knew we had to do it the hard way but we felt we were peaking at the right time and that’s what the playoffs are about.”
The victory over the Tigers came after Carlsbad opened the playoffs with a 42-2 win over eighth-seeded Santa Fe Christian and a quarterfinal upset of top-seeded La Costa Canyon.
The Lancers spent three days preparing to meet fourth-seeded Calexico High School before being told they were instead facing the Tigers who were declared forfeit winners over Calexico on Monday.
Location and opponent didn’t appear to be issues. Carlsbad scored on its opening drive on a 17-yard touchdown pass from freshman quarterback Courtney Clemons to sophomore wide receiver Georgia Hawk.
The score established a go-to connection between the duo after Carlsbad lost key sophomore receiver Reese Bowman to an injury on the drive. It would be the first of three touchdown passes between the young trio who connected on a first-half touchdown pass of ten yards and a second-half 19-yard pass play.
“We lost Reese early and that was a big hit to us, but we had other girls step up,” Thomas said.
As for the play of Bowman, who would return and also had a key interception on defense, Clemons needed few words.
“She’s a beast,” she said.
The visitors led 12-7 at halftime. Imperial took possession first in the second half and scored on a pass from Maria Barron to senior Jayden Ruthledge to take a 13-12 lead.
Carlsbad then turned the ball over on its next possession before the Lancers intercepted a Tiger pass and the Clemons to Bowman connection put them back up to stay, 20-13.
The Lancers then broke open the tight game mid-way through the second half, scoring on a 29-yard pass from Clemons to Emerson Jarrard which was followed by a 24-yard interception return for a touchdown by Lancer Savannah Arzola.
— TOM RONCO
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