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By Loren Kopff
Sports Editor | Follow X
October 22, 2025
In its inaugural season of girls flag football, which is in its third season as a CIF-Southern Section fall sport, Cerritos High has already checked off several boxes. The Dons won their first game ever on Aug. 9, edging Norwalk High 13-12 in overtime, then claimed a share of the 605 League title with Artesia High when they defeated the Pioneers 7-0 two weeks ago.
Now, head coach Brittney Goodin can check off another box-the school’s first playoff victory. Backed by the play of junior quarterback Kianna Rangel and sophomore Julia Santos, the Dons had no problems with Saddleback High in a 25-6 victory this past Tuesday in a Division 6 first round win.
“Obviously we have big goals for our program, and we wanted to come out and show what Cerritos is made of,” said Goodin. “From the first game at Norwalk to now, the girls have grown incredibly with just their IQ on the field and the things that we were able to execute. So, we have high hopes.
“We were treating [today’s game] like a regular season game,” she later said. “We didn’t want to give the girls too nervous about today, especially coming off some really good wins lately, and again, some of the things we’ve been able to execute in the last five games or so. We’ve just been telling them to keep doing what we’ve been doing. We went over every possible offense that we would run getting prepared for this game just so that they would be ready for whatever we would call if we had to make any adjustments.”
After both teams punted on their first drives of the game, the Dons put together an eight-play drive that consisted of four completions from Rangel and three receptions from Santos, the last coming on a nine-yard touchdown catch with 2:02 left in the first quarter. But Santos was just warming up as she returned Saddleback’s second punt of the stanza 40 yards for a touchdown with 23.7 left. Then on the second play of the second quarter, Santos picked off Saddleback quarterback Hailey Bravo at the 28-yard line.
“I was shocked because I kind of thought it was going to be a passing play, but I’m happy I was the first one to score in the playoffs for this team,” said Santos. “I was thinking touchdown the entire way [on the punt return]. I was just thinking I could run and run and run and get [to the end zone].”
“Julia has been someone that we have grown to know that is a reliable option for us to get the ball to her,” said Goodin. “We trust her ability to catch it and make those runs. The 40-yard run…she actually came off a another one in her previous game and she’s hungry for those types of catches and runs.”
While the interception did not lead to another score, the Dons kept the Roadrunners off the board in the half while the Dons added another touchdown when senior Madelyn Macaraeg hauled in a 34-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Serenity Reupena to make it 19-0 late in the half.
After a scoreless third quarter, Saddleback, which went 1-12 last season, avoided the shutout when Bravo scored from a yard out with 7:07 left in the game. But five plays later, Rangel hooked up with Macaraeg again, this time for 40 yards to complete the scoring.
Rangel completed 17 of 24 passes for 143 yards and added 34 yards on 11 carries while Santos caught six passes for 47 yards and Macaraeg another four passes for 81 yards.
But the offense wasn’t the only thing clicking as the defense held the Roadrunners to 15 plays of negative yardage out of the 42 it ran against Cerritos. And the hosts wanted to set the tone early as they held Saddleback behind the line of scrimmage 11 times out of 20 first half plays.
The touchdown allowed was the first since a 13-7 loss to Artesia on Sept. 23. Since then the Dons had not allow a point in their past five opponents and have blanked eight of their last 12 regular season foes.
“We’ve been heavily relying on our defense; that’s one of our strengths in our program, and we’ve been trying to stick with that,” said Goodin. “The girls are really driven to keep the score low on the other side, so it makes our work easier on offense where we’re still trying to figure some things out.”
Cerritos (13-7) will host Montebello High on Saturday in the second round. The Oilers knocked off La Quinta High 25-20 this past Tuesday.
“I knew this team could go far; I know we can because the bond within the girls is strong,” said Santos. “We’ve been together since summer, and most of us play outside sports together. So, I know we can go far with this team.
“This season has been very memorable to me knowing that it’s our inaugural season of flag football,” she later said. “I always knew this group of girls can go far, and our connection within us is strong.”
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