The Sierra High flag football campaign did not get off to the start head coach Chris Zalunardo drew up.
“We’ve had some girls out early in the year and had some girls get hurt tonight that have made things hard on us,” he said. “A lot of credit to the ones that have been out there as we try to piece this thing together while we wait for reinforcements.”
Chris Zalunardo and his staff were in fact able to piece it together Tuesday night, pulling away from Central Valley of Ceres for a 49-20 non-conference victory.
Sierra (2-4) was led offensively by junior quarterback Tessa Zalunardo, who racked up six total touchdowns to lead her team over the Hawks (1-3). The dual-threat signal caller threw for 211 yards and five touchdown passes to go along with 35 yards and a rushing touchdown on the ground.
“This team has a next-person-up mentality,” Tessa Zalunardo said. “Obviously, we miss and need the girls that are out back, but I couldn’t be more proud of the way the rest of the team is stepping up on both sides of the ball.”
Traces of Sierra’s slow start trickled over into the contest against Central Valley, as the Timberwolves found themselves on the wrong end of a few big penalty calls early. After a roughing-the-passer penalty extended a Hawks drive, Central Valley quarterback Addisyn Prudhel found Mekenzie Buenrostro from 27 yards out to make it it a 14-12 game late in the first half.
“We shot ourselves in the foot there early,” Chris Zalunardo said. “We talk all the time about how important it is to respond when things don’t go your way, and these girls did that tonight after things got close.”
With Tessa Zalunardo and the rest of the Timberwolves offense putting pressure on Central Valley on each possession, it was up to the defense to come up with stops to help build a second-half lead.
Big plays by Mia Aguirre, Sofia Montes and Kayla Amarante stalled drives for a Hawks offense that could not find its footing after the break. A 10-yard touchdown pass from Tessa Zalunardo to Elin Villanueva (5 receptions, 55 yards) capped a 14-0 third quarter for Sierra, pushing the lead to 28-12 going into the final quarter.
“Honestly, we were flying around out there,” Aguirre said. “We were playing well as a unit. The defensive backs were making it tough on the quarterback, and I was just happy to be able to make some plays to help us stop drives in the second half.”
With short fields most of the second half, Tessa Zalunardo went to work finding open receiver after open receiver. Sophomore wideout Sofia Montes (six receptions, 96 yards) was the main beneficiary of Tessa Zalunardo’s ability to make plays with her feet, scoring from 40 yards out through the air to go along with a touchdown run herself.
Zalunardo also found Aguirre, Amarante, and Jayleen Lopez for touchdown passes to round out a career night for the junior standout.
“So much credit goes to this group of receivers,” Tessa Zalunardo said. “On a lot of these plays, they are getting open after their routes finish and just improvising out there.”
Chris Zalunardo hopes his team’s 35-8 run to end Tuesday’s game is a sign to come.
“We’re going to get healthier,” he said. “And if we can clean up some of the little mistakes, the sky is the limit for this group.”
Sierra won’t have to wait long to prove it’s on the right track, as it heads to Lathrop for another non-conference tilt Wednesday evening at 6:15 p.m.
