High powered passing game helps Anaheim roll past Castaic in CIF Division 5 final

Anaheim players and coaches celebrate after capturing the CIF title Saturday. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Anaheim’s girls flag football team started out with two big plays in the first quarter for touchdowns and never looked back defeating Castaic 32-6 in the CIF Division 5 final Saturday at Fred Kelly Stadium.

Junior quarterback Alyssa Avelar threw two 57 yard touchdown passes: one to Ashley Guzman and another to Sophia Sewell to get the Colonists (16-10) going on their way to their first CIF title.

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Avelar was on target completing 21 of 24 passses for 395 yards and five touchdowns with two interceptions. Sewell was the top receiver with six catches for 214 yards and two touchdowns while Guzman had five catches for 90 yards..

“It’s everybody’s dream as an athlete and as a coach, you always want to dream about, ‘let’s get a CIF ring,'” said Anaheim Coach Vince Gomez. “All the teams that aren’t here, they’re the ones who prepared us for this moment. We played some tough teams, we played Edison, we played Tesoro, Esperanza all great teams.”

Gomez was pleased with how Avelar stepped up.

“Most importantly, she handles pressure really well,” he said. “She developed to be the person she is today.”

Anaheim added another touchdown in the second quarter when Avelar connected with Guadalupe Prudente on a 4-yard TD pass to give the Colonists a 19-0 lead at halftime.

Avelar then hit Valerie Florido on a 5-yard TD pass in the third quarter to put Anaheim up 25-0. Castaic broke the shutout bid when Charlotte Wheeler hauled in a 23-yard TD pass from quarterback Larkin Smith in the third quarter.

But Avelar threw a 66-yard TD pass to Sewell in the third quarter and after a scoreless fourth quarter, the celebration was on.

“I feel very grateful and blessed to be here in this position, I’m very grateful for my coaches, my team and of course I give all glory to God for putting us here and giving us a chance to be here,” Avelar said. “I’m just very proud of everyone, my coaches, my teammates and all the supporters of course, without them, we wouldn’t he here either.”

The big yardage touchdowns stood out.

“I’ve always liked throwing far … I just want to give thanks to my team, because without them, I wouldn’t be able to,” Avelar said.

Sewell, a sophomore, was also excited about the win.

“Girls flag football is a new sport and getting into a lot of high schools, we had our CIF last year, it didn’t go that well but this year, we got finals and it’s a victory for all of us and truly inspiring, everyone contributed,” Sewell said. “It’s just an exciting moment.”

Sewell has had some big catches this year, but none were more important than the ones on Saturday.

“It’s the connection that me and Alyssa have,” Sewell said. “With how well (Avelar) can throw it and how far she can throw it, it’s being being there and securing the ball, it’s a really good connection.”

Gomez, the Anaheim coach, was also impressed with his team’s defense.

“We stepped up big,” Gomez said. “Our pressure up front, we had Michelle Munoz and Jaslene Lopez in the front creating pressure which puts their quarterback in a situation where she’s going to have to think fast or react quicker. We want her to throw that ball and give us opportunities on defense.”

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com