GIRLS FLAG FOOTBALL: Cerritos completes undefeated Mid-Cities League slate with another shutout

October 13, 2026

By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X

This time, there was no doubt who was going to win the Mid-Cities League in girls flag football. As Cerritos High was preparing to host Paramount High this past Monday in the final league contest of the season, the Dons had already claimed first place all to themselves with Paramount being three games behind,

The only thing left on their regular season resume was an undefeated league season, and that’s what happened in grand fashion as senior quarterback Kianna Rangel completed 23 of 41 passes for 219 yards and four touchdowns and the defense held the Pirates to barely over 120 yards in a 25-0 victory. It was the fifth straight win and 12^th in the last 13 wins for the Dons, who improved to 16-2 overall, 8-0 in league, with the last three victories coming via the shutout.

Cerritos joined the ranks of the sport for the first time last season as the CIF-Southern Section implemented the fall season sport for the first time in 2023, minus the playoffs. Cerritos head coach Brittany Goodin remembered putting together an inexperienced team except for one player, but the Dons finished 14-8 and tied Artesia High for the top spot in the 605 League. Then in the playoffs, they lost to Adelanto High 52-0 in the Division 6 semifinals.

“It was a learning year, but we had incredible athletes last year,” said Goodin. “We had a lot of returners this year; we graduated a few that we had to fill gaps in, so that’s what we were looking for this year. This year has been more about really solidifying their football IQ and really understanding positionality; understanding what the field looks like. But really [it was about] building their capacity this year, and I think that’s really served them well, especially the second half of league.”

She added that a few athletes have been peaking at the right time, which has been putting the team in a ‘pretty good position for playoffs next week’.”

On the first drive of the game, the Dons drove down the field and on the seventh play, Rangel tossed a 12-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Jaslyn Macaraeg. On its next drive, Cerritos went up 13-0 when junior wide receiver Aubrey Padilla caught a five-yard score from Rangel. Just in the opening quarter, Rangel completed 10 of 15 passes for 104 yards and the Dons had no rushing plays.

After Rangel threw an interception on the first play of the second quarter, the defense made sure the Pirates would not take advantage, gaining zero yards on four plays. That left the door wide open for Rangel to do her magic and on the fourth play of the new drive, she found senior wide receiver Alexi Olmos open for 17 yards and a 19-0 lead with 7:34 left in the half.

“Kiki came to us last year brand new to flag [and] she had an arm, but we needed to kind of reel it in,” said Goodin. “Kiki definitely started as a pocket passer, but we’ve tried to work towards, again, building her IQ. She does a lot of work off the field outside of practice to kind of hone in on those skills. She worked a lot in the offseason to prepare for this season. But I think this year, she’s stepped into that leadership role.”

The score remained 19-0 until 1:55 remained in the contest when junior Julia Santos caught Rangel’s last completion and matriculated 39 yards down the field for the final touchdown. Sophomore Cailey Heng caught five passes for 44 yards while Santos had three catches for 72 yards. Senior Kalana Nguyen also had five receptions for 31 yards while five other players all caught a pair of passes.

“That’s one thing I love about this team; there’s no one key player from game to game,” said Goodin. “We don’t have one outstanding player; we have great depth with our program, and that [allows us to] throw different things out there. If someone is having an off game here, someone else is stepping up to the plate. Having depth is just one of those things that we are very, very incredibly fortunate to have, and I think it continues to serve us really well.”

After beginning last season 5-7, the Dons lost to Artesia 13-7 in second league game of the season before winning nine straight heading into the semifinals. Cerritos ended up outscoring its opponents 382-284, but this season, it’s been completely different as the Dons have piled up 441 points ahead of the postseason while the defense has allowed 90 points with eight shutouts and seven games of allowing either a touchdown or a safety.

The CIF-SS divisional playoff brackets will be released on Friday afternoon with the first round games beginning on Tuesday.