Sophia Tovar Delgado is one of the original members of the River Islands flag football team and among the 10 who are back for what has been a mostly-dominant second season.
The Riptide are closing in on their first league championship and a perfect regular-season run. They took another step toward those milestones on Tuesday with a 56-0 drubbing of visiting Linden.
“We’ve grown so much, honestly,” Tovar Delgado said. “Last year, we were, on day 1, learning how to throw and catch a ball — we weren’t catching a lot. We just kind of flipped the switch over the summer. A lot of hard work, a lot of grinding and now we’re like, at the top of the game playing to our best ability.”
The senior running back/line backer contributed 57 scrimmage yards, a touchdown reception, a rushing touchdown and six flag pulls on defense. Like most of her teammates, Tovar Delgado, a soccer standout, grew up playing other sports. She’s one of 10 returning players on the varsity squad.
“It feels like I’m leaving behind a legacy, so the underclassmen can look up to us and continue that run moving forward,” Tovar Delgado said. “It’s special, obviously, because (for a) second-year program, we’re doing great, so far. I hope it just keeps going further from here.”
In its inaugural season under coach Joe Cataline, River Islands understandably struggled at the outset playing against larger-school opponents that had at least a year head start in getting their programs off the ground. Flag football became a sanctioned sport by the California Interscholastic Federation in 2023, so the Riptide had some catching up to do. They ended the 2025 campaign at 8-10 and narrowly missed the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoffs.
Now, it’s the opposition having a tough time keeping up with the 15-0 ’Tide, who have 10 shutouts and three games left in Southern League play with a season sweep of defending champion Mariposa already in hand. They’re currently ranked No. 3, according to MaxPreps computer ratings, in the section’s newly-formed Division V field.
“When they brought me in, they said, ‘Are you OK with losing?’ because it was a first-year program,” Cataline said. “I said yes, if we have a true process. If we believe in our coaching — and I do, and most importantly, I believe in my assistants — and trust the process, I knew we would become competitive.
“I did not think it would be this fast. That speaks to the work ethic and the teamwork of these girls.”
A late goal-line stop from Linden (2-8) — one of three first-year programs in the Southern League — prevented River Islands from setting a single-game record for points scored on Tuesday. Back-up quarterback Octavia Orndoff, on a short-yardage keeper, had her flag pulled by Andrea Nava at the 1, as the Riptide turned it over on downs with 3:50 left in the game. The record stands at 59, which was scored in a league shutout of Vanguard College Prep on Sept. 24.
Orndoff, a versatile two-way player and the school’s first softball star, already had two rushing touchdowns at that point and showed her breakaway speed on a 36-yard scoring scamper on the previous drive. She also hit center Camila Tovar Delgado for a 1-yard touchdown, finishing 4-of-7 passing for 27 yards.
Sophomore QB Analeyah Trigos recovered well from an early interception, finishing 10 of 14 for 129 yards and three touchdowns. Her final TD completion was a high-arching deep ball to Brianna Lee (four receptions, 83 yards), who caught on the run for a 46-yard play with 52 seconds left in the first half. The Riptide led comfortably at halftime, 36-0.
The defense also factored into the scoring, as Jannat Sodhi returned an interception 19 yards in the second quarter. Kalina Rodrigues came up with a pick in the fourth period.
River Islands outgained the Lions 248-59 on offensive yardage.
Jaylene Chavez, Camila Tover Delgado and Mahi Gill each contributed a sack on defense. The rangy Gill also broke up five passes. Lila Smee added four flag pulls and two pass break-ups.
Makenzie Morris reeled in the interception for Linden.
River Islands is at Waterford on Thursday and hosts its home finale against Millennium next Monday. The season ends Oct. 21 at Gustine.
The Riptide previously blew out the three teams by an average margin of 34.3 points.
Cataline is not worried about any sort of letdown.
“You know, I’ve been coaching for 26 years, and there’s always a letdown,” Cataline said. “For the girls to put this much focus and dedication to it is pretty remarkable. It’s special to watch.
“We preach a very simple thing, and it is, in football, the average length of play is 6-7 seconds, and we want to win this play. It’s one play at a time, one quarter at a time. You do that, the scoreboard takes care of itself. It’s something we’ve been preaching for two years, and the girls, to their credit, they embody it. It’s about the play or the game in front of us, and when we get to the end of the season, whatever accolades we have, we appreciate it then.”
