ORANGE — Friday evening, Ashlynn Gillman and Saniya Brewer donned their cheerleader uniforms and rooted on the Riverside Poly boys tackle football team’s first-round playoff victory over Santiago.

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Riverside Poly’s Saniya Brewer carries the ball during the CIF-SS Division 4 championship game against West Ranch on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Contributing Photographer)

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Saturday morning’s endeavor required a change of outfits.

Gillman scored three touchdowns on offense, and Brewer added another score on defense as the Riverside Poly girls flag football team beat West Ranch 27-18 in the CIF Southern Section Division 4 championship game at El Modena High School’s Fred Kelly Stadium.

The Bears became the first Inland girls flag football team to claim a section championship.

“This game showed how resilient we’ve been all season long,” Bears coach Pat Meech said. “We’ve put in the work. These girls had a goal and accomplished what they wanted, and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Poly (20-11) suffered a major blow when junior wide receiver Kaelin Bain injured her knee on the second play from scrimmage. Bain was treated and tested out her knee on the sidelines but was unable to return.

West Ranch (17-4) grabbed the early lead, capitalizing on Rachelle Clark’s interception of Brooklyn Snider. Kara Carnes tossed a 29-yard touchdown to Alora Glass 3 minutes later to put the Wildcats on the board

Gillman’s offensive workload increased with Bain sidelined. She  hauled in big catch after big catch from Snider throughout Saturday’s game and finished with nine receptions for 137 yards.

For anyone saying cheerleaders are not athletes, Gillman offered this up.

“Don’t underestimate anyone,” Gillman said. “It takes muscles and strength to do many of the things we do out there as cheerleaders. And that is something that can really pay off in other sports.”

Gillman’s first score was on a reverse that helped Poly take a 7-6 lead in the second period. Snider found Gillman for an &-yard touchdown 5 1/2 minutes later to extend the lead to 13-6.

Poly’’s defense bent a few times Saturday but never completely broke. And that unit also forced some big turnovers.

The first was Saydee Salcedo’s interception late in the first half that prevented West Ranch from tying things up going into halftime.

Brewer delivered the other one on the opening possession of the second half, as she corralled a tipped ball and returned it 62 yards for a touchdown.

“My dad called that one,” Brewer said. “He told me this morning I’d get a pick-six today.”

Brewer said the emotions from Friday night’s game carried over to Saturday.

“I don’t think the adrenaline ever went away,” Brewer said. “We had a lot of confidence in ourselves and figured we made it this far so we might as well bring back a championship.”

West Ranch cut the deficit to 20-12 when  Carnes fired a 5-yard touchdown to Alana Tolliver with 2:45 left in the third period.

Poly answered back and extended their lead to 27-12 when Snider and Gillman connected on a 5-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

“I’m proving something to myself and at the same time helping my team,” Gillman said. “There’s really no better feeling than that.”

Carnes scrambled for a 3-yard touchdown with 1:13 left in the game, but West Ranch failed on the conversion attempt. That kept it a two-score game, and with no onside kicks in flag football, that all but ended the game.

Snider, 1 of 10 seniors who suited up for the championship game, completed 18 of 34 passes for 268 yards and two touchdowns.

“I’ll always remember this moment and know this was a team that made history,” Snider said. “in the summer, if anyone would have said we’d be CIF champions in November, we’d all have laughed at them. We all stuck together and found a way to pull this off.”


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