Flag Football CIF Finals Preview

At 7pm Saturday night, the undeniable two best flag football teams in the state of California, and maybe the country, matchup at Fred Kelly Stadium in Orange, CA for the third and final time this year to decide the 2025 CIF-SS championship.

The defending champion Orange Lutheran Lancers come into the game with a 24-2 record, having outscored their opponents in the preceding three playoff games 124-32. The only two losses on the season for the Lancer team that averaged 35 points per game while allowing opponents just 7.2 ppg came at the hands of their opponent the 27-0 Trinity League Champion JSerra Lions.

JSerra is a young and talented team coached by Brian Ong. They run a two quarterback system on offense with equally potent talents freshman Kate Meier and sophomore Ava Vanderveer, causing a slew of problems for defenses when they line up in the backfield together. They combined for 6,817 yards passing and 99 touchdowns, primarily to the receiving core of junior GG Szczuka, and USA National Team members freshman Ava Irwin and Tessa Russell. The Lions have cruised to an equally impressive performance so far in the playoffs outscoring their three opponents 81-13.

The Lions also boast the states best scoring defense in the state, allowing just 5.62 ppg in their 27 wins this year. Irwin and Russell have combined for 32 interceptions on the year, while another freshman Sterling Flores leads the team in flag pulls with 158.

The Lancers, coached by Kristin Sherman, are the defending CIF-SS champions having bested Newport Harbor 20-18 in the 2024 championship game. Despite losing twice to the Lions during the season, they come in as the team to beat, having amassed an impressive 67-13 record in the first three years of Girl's Flag Football being a sanctioned varsity sport by CIF.

The Lancer offense is led by junior superstar quarterback Makena Cook, a University of Georgia soccer commit for 2027. Cook has completed 74 percent of her passes for 6,713 yards and 109 touchdowns against just 18 interceptions. Freshman Happy Dubois was on the receiving end of 31 of Cook's touchdown passes, more than double the second most among a deep receiving corps that includes stars junior Josie Anderson and sophomore Ava Harrison.

The Lancers are no slouch on defense led by Senior Julia Oberholtzer, who picked off 16 passes on the year including 3 that were returned for touchdowns. Sophomore Anna Paquette led the team in flag pulls with 139 on the season, and sophomore Izzy Thomas led the team with 20 sacks.

The Lions were in control the entire way during their first game, an 18-7 victory on the Orange Lutheran home field, holding Cook and the Lancers to just 203 yards of total offense while intercepting 4 passes including a pick six.

The second game was a thriller at JSerra, where Cook completed 77 percent of her passes for 330 yards, 3 touchdowns, and just one interception. 24 of her 45 pass completions were to Anderson for 195 total receiving yards. However, JSerra's bend don't break defense held on two crucial possessions in the red zone, and the offense capitalized on two big plays, a 52 yard touchdown reception to Szczuka and a 45 yard strike to Flores, leading the Lions to their second victory against their Trinity League rivals, 21-20.
Both teams know they need to bring their A games on both offense and defense if they want to hoist the trophy on Saturday.

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Players Mentioned

#55 Josie Anderson

#0 Makena Cook

#1 Ava Harrison

#24 Julia Oberholtzer

#12 Anna Paquette

Players Mentioned

#55 Josie Anderson

#0 Makena Cook

#1 Ava Harrison

#24 Julia Oberholtzer

#12 Anna Paquette