ORANGE — Woodbridge quarterback Delia Stone scored the winning touchdown in overtime as the No. 6-seeded Warriors knocked off No. 3 seed Orange Lutheran, 26-20, in the final round of pool play in the CIF-SS Open Division flag football playoffs Wednesday at Orange Lutheran High School.
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The Warriors (24-4) advance from Pool C and will play at Newport Harbor in the semifinals Saturday. The game time will be announced Thursday.
The Sailors defeated Westlake, 14-7, in pool play Wednesday to advance.
Woodbridge trailed 13-0 at halftime, but then scored three touchdowns in the second half to take a 20-13 lead.
“That first half was really tough,” Woodbridge coach Mark Thompson said. “We made a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes. We just talked to the girls at halftime and got them to settle down.”
In the second half, Stone scored the first touchdown on a 6-ard run, then threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Loghan Everett to make the score 13-13. She ran for a 3-yard touchdown to give the Warriors their first lead.
On the ensuing possession, the Lancers (17-5) faced fourth-and-15 from the Woodbridge 35. Ava Harrison made a spectacular catch on a 30-yard pass from Alyssa McClure to set up first and goal.
McClure, who threw three touchdown passes, connected with Clare Dahman for a 1-yard touchdown and ran in the conversion play to tie the score and send the game to overtime.
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In overtime, both teams had a possession at the opponent’s 10-yard line.
With Woodbridge taking possession first, Stone ran for 8 yards and then ran for a 2-yard touchdown to give the Warriors the lead.
The Warriors defense then took over and shut down the Lancers’ offense on the first three plays.
On fourth down from the 7, Synda Hall’s interception in the end zone closed out the game.
“We were so psyched,” said Stone, who had an interception in the fourth quarter that set up her 3-yard scoring run. “This is all we wanted.”
Orange Lutheran first-year coach Dennis Hester, who took over the program in August, said he was “indebted” to his team’s resilience all season, especially after several players transferred out of the program.
“We were up against it all year,” said Hester, who had been the quarterbacks coach for the men’s football team at Pomona Pitzer before coming to Orange Lutheran. “But these girls didn’t flinch at anything.”
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