RIVERSIDE — The North girls flag football team continued its mini revenge tour Tuesday night.

In September, the Huskies lost back-to-back nonleagues games to Moreno Valley and Norte Vista in a span of four days.

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North’s Sophia Gonzales) (9) makes the catch as Norte Vista’s Dalia Ortega (30) defends during the CIF Southern Section Division 4 girls flag football quarterfinal game in Riverside on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

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North have avenged both losses in the CIF Southern Section playoffs, also in a span of four days. Saturday, the Huskies blanked Moreno Valley to reach the Division 4 quarterfinals. Tuesday, Naomi Shannon tossed three touchdown passes and the defense registered three interceptions as North cruised to a 26-6 victory over Norte Vista to advance to this Saturday’s semifinal round.

“Not only have the girls improved as a team throughout the season, I’ve improved as a coach,” North coach Damon Morton said. “It’s a learning experience for everyone. I love the perseverance they’ve shown. They showed how well they can play tonight.”

North (11-8) scored only one touchdown in that September loss to the Braves, but the Huskies needed less than 10 minutes to match that output Tuesday night. Shannon completed all four passes for 53 yards on North’s second possession of the game, including a 7-yard touchdown strike to Angelina Martinez. The Huskies added the 1-point conversion to take a 7-0 advantage.

Shannon was equally sharp of the next drive. She completed 5 of 6 passes for 57 yards, and a 4-yard pass to Malaiah Mayo extended the lead to 13-0 with 2 minutes left in the first half. Shannon completed 18 of 26 passes for 181 yards on Tuesday.

“We have good communication,” Shannon said. “When someone gets open, everybody is letting me know and helping me out.”

Mayo then delivered the biggest defensive play of the game, returning an interception 40 yards for a touchdown to help extend North’s lead to 20-0 at halftime. Mayo also had a pick-6 in the Huskies’ first-round playoff victory over Summit.

Norte Vista (10-6) had a promising drive going early in the second half, but Gonzales picked off her second pass of the game.

“We hype each other before every play to get in the right headspace,” Gonzales said. “We’re playing good defense right now.”

Norte Vista ended North’s bid for a second straight shutout when Nicole Cline connected with Brianna Guerrero for a 13-yard touchdown with 5 minutes remaining in the game. Cline completed 4 of 6 passes for 64 yards on the Braves’ lone scoring drive.

North quickly answered back and sealed the win when the Shannon-to-Martinez tandem connected for an 18-yard touchdown.

“We definitely wanted to get revenge,” Shannon said about the victories over Moreno Valley and Norte Vista. “When we played them back then (in September), we hadn’t really got ourselves locked in. Now, it’s really serious and we’re trying to go all in.”


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