MERCED — Gracious for their invitation to the Girls Flag Football All-Star Game at Golden Valley High School in Merced on Saturday despite not being from Merced County, senior players from Turlock and Pitman made their presence known to the rest of the region.
Defensively, Turlock’s Kealani Solis-Coelho and Karley Wool and Pitman’s Elexi Pulido helped the North team defeat the South by a 35-30 score. Serving as head coach for the North squad was Bulldogs head coach Aaron King.
“It was fun to see our local girls in it and really to be a part of this event,” King said.
Organized by former Golden Valley High principal Kevin Smartwood, Central California Conference commissioner Lou Souza and the Merced Breakfast Lions Club, the showcase took place for the second year in a row and for the first time, welcomed players from Stanislaus County.
“I know this game happened last year, and I thought it was really cool and was thinking, maybe we can get into it. And so it happened, and it was nice to have our girls in it, competing and representing our town,” King said.
Last year’s flag football game was the first of its kind in the state and came as the sport had just wrapped its first season in the Sac-Joaquin Section. The Central California Athletic League, where the Turlock and Pitman programs play in, held their inaugural season this past winter.
Solis-Coelho was putting the pressure on the opposing quarterback for most of the game, accumulating six total rushes.
“I feel really honored to be able to play in this game,” she said. “It's a really good opportunity to be with all of my teammates and other people that I know for the last time, and I really enjoyed it. I'm definitely going to miss flag football a lot, and I just think it's a really cool experience for all of us being together. Even though I played much more defense, I think that I really did a good job, and I'm really proud of all my teammates.”
Wool had three tackles on the evening, and although the game was considered an exhibition, brought that same fire from the regular season that helped the Bulldogs earn a playoff berth in their inaugural season.
“Goodness gracious, I don’t even remember what happened out there. It was such a rush, all I know is that I got called for over-aggression,” she said laughing. “It was really intense in the beginning, and both sides are very proud and wanted to win.
“When you're surrounded by all these great athletes from around the area, you take it to another level. You just have to appreciate it. It's just an honor for Turlock and Pitman to join this game in its second year. We all really appreciate it for them doing this for all the seniors because this is the last time we'll probably ever play this game.”
Pulido, the Pride’s MVP quarterback from the regular season, played defense throughout the game, helping erase many deep ball threats in the secondary.
“It's definitely an honor playing the second ever game,” said Pulido. “It’s kind of a crazy thing looking back at it. I didn't think coming into our first year, and our senior years, that we would be at an All-Star game. It means a lot for our hard work and this sport in general to be recognized.”
The Pitman and Turlock programs were some of the more dominant in the section this season, despite it being their first times competing. King relished the opportunity to coach players from both crosstown schools.
“It's cool to be able to work with Karley and Kealani again and to coach Lexi… Lexi adapts, Karley adapts, Kealani adapts. They’re all so great and so knowledgeable, it was fun to coach them and all the others and watch them play a great game.”
As Wool added, the game is continuing to grow, and each of the three felt proud to know they have set a high standard for each of their programs and others in the region.
“Flag football is growing,” Wool said, “but it’s not fully there yet. You just have to really appreciate it and the hard work everyone has done to help grow it like this game today. It was just a special day.”
