Three years ago the JSerra girls flag football program went 0-8 in its first season. On Saturday night at Huntington Beach High School, the Lions finished a second straight perfect season, beating Newport Harbor 40-14 to repeat as CIF Southern Section Open Division champions, close the year 28-0 and stretch the nation’s longest active winning streak to 56 games.

The Lions, ranked No. 1 in the nation, wasted no time. On the second play of the game, sophomore quarterback Kate Meier launched a 62 yard touchdown pass to Tessa Russell. Meier then capped a five play drive with a 4 yard touchdown run for a 13-0 lead. Newport Harbor answered early in the second quarter on a 14 yard touchdown pass from Scarlett Guyser to Cora Jordan, but Meier found Russell again from 11 yards out with 30 seconds left in the half, and JSerra went to the break up 20-7.

The Sailors made their push in the third quarter. Guyser finished an 11 play drive with a 12 yard touchdown pass to Emma Yokoi, trimming the lead to 20-14 with 4:46 left in the third, and for a moment the streak was in genuine danger. Meier answered by leading touchdown drives on the Lions’ next three possessions. She hit Abby VanderWeerd for a 19 yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter, found Russell from 12 yards out with 5:13 to play, and added one more short touchdown run late to close out the scoring.

Meier was unstoppable all night, completing 24 of 32 passes for 243 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for 63 yards and two more scores, accounting for all six JSerra touchdowns. She finished the season with 99 touchdown passes and 7,367 passing yards. Russell caught 10 passes for 145 yards and three touchdowns, closing her season with 188 catches for 2,443 yards and 36 touchdowns. Meier and Russell, both sophomores, are members of the U17 USA Junior National Team.

“We maintained our focus and that was the key for us,” said Meier. “We never got too far ahead of ourselves. Our team chemistry on and off the field is incredible and that’s what made our team so strong.”

“Newport Harbor is a really good team, the best team we played all season,” said Russell. “Our team has put in a lot of hard work this season and it’s an amazing feeling to be champions for the second year in a row.”

“It’s an amazing feeling to be champions again,” said VanderWeerd. “It all has to do with our team chemistry.”

Guyser completed 21 passes for 154 yards and two touchdowns for Newport Harbor, and Skylie Cid caught 10 passes as the Sailors finished 23-5 as the Open Division runner up. It was the third time this season Newport Harbor lost to JSerra, and the third meeting followed the same script as the first two, a 23-6 win in August and a 21-6 win in the MaxPreps Flag Football Showdown final in September.

“We had nothing to lose today,” said Newport Harbor coach Jason Guyser. “We played loose. We just didn’t have the ability to stop them. They kept moving the ball and we couldn’t stop them.”

JSerra head coach Brian Ong pointed to the standard set by the players who built the program from that winless first season.

“I give credit to the captains of this team and our captains of our past teams,” said Ong. “They set the tone, the culture, and the foundation for our teams. Our first year we were 0-8, but these girls bought into our system and embraced it. I am very proud of each one of them.”

The win makes it back to back Open Division titles for JSerra, a year after the Lions beat Orange Lutheran 25-20 in the final. Two seasons, 56 games, zero losses, and the nation’s No. 1 ranking wire to wire this fall. The target stays on their backs, and so far nobody in California has been able to touch it.

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