Huntington Beach girls flag football beats Mater Dei to reach semifinals

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HUNTINGTON BEACH — Huntington Beach senior Roxie Shaia grew up playing baseball and later switched to softball. When she started playing flag football around the sixth grade, she had the arm strength to excel as a quarterback but her pathway looked uncertain.

Girls flag football, at that time, wasn’t even a high school sport in the CIF Southern Section.

“I played in middle school in Friday Night Lights and stuff, (and) Matt Leinart (Flag Football),” she recalled. “It’s really cool to see how much the sport has grown in popularity. It’s amazing.”

Huntington Beach and Shaia remained at the forefront of the surge Wednesday night by etching their names in the emerging record books.

Shaia passed for 238 yards and three touchdowns as Huntington Beach defeated visiting Mater Dei 25-6 in Group D of the Open Division playoffs.

Huntington Beach (22-5) became the first school to reach the semifinals in the top division all three years the section has held playoffs.

Huntington Beach, Mater Dei (19-7) and St. Joseph each finished 1-1 in Group D. The Oilers won the group based on point-differential, the first tiebreaker.

Huntington Beach will be seeking to advance to its first section final when it takes on top-ranked JSerra (26-0) in the semifinals Saturday. The Lions beat Edison 39-7 in another semifinal to extend their winning streak to 54 games.

“I’m so happy for our team,” Shaia said. “I can’t believe that we’ve actually made it to semifinals each year. We’ve worked really hard for this and it’s time to break that curse.”

“We’re going to get past the semifinals this year,” she added. “I believe our team can do it. Our chemistry is really good.”

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Fourth-seeded Huntington Beach, a semifinalist in Division 1 the past two seasons, needed to win by at least four points to own the tiebreaker.

The Oilers took control early behind Shaia and their defense.

Shaia completed 28 of 36 passes, including short touchdown passes to Shelby Nguyen, Daisy Quatman and Brianna Massion.

“She’s a star,” Mater Dei coach Aaron Castillo said of Shaia, a four-year starter. “Her accuracy. Her arm strength. She’s very patient in the pocket.”

Huntington Beach led 13-0 at halftime and 19-0 after Shaia tossed an 11-yard touchdown to Massion to cap the first drive of the second half.

19-0 HB and Oilers fired up pic.twitter.com/vBkhTuTZNu

— Dan Albano (@ocvarsityguy) October 29, 2026

Massion, a wide receiver/safety, and cornerback Isla Castillo had interceptions for Huntington Beach’s defense. The Oilers forced several errant throws.

“Defensively, we told our girls, you got to win the toughness battle,” said fourth-year Huntington Beach coach Zack Pannell. “Our culture has carried us.”

Mater Dei’s Allyson Schmida caught a 6-yard touchdown from Tymane Allen with 1:36 left in the third quarter to snap the shutout.

Huntington Beach responded with a short touchdown run by speedy freshman Kyla Uno in the fourth quarter.

Mater Dei showed its growth in the Open Division after losing in the first round in Division 2 last season.

“The goal is to get better every game and grow as a team,” said Castillo, a first-year coach who was missing three players due to U.S. soccer commitments.

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