Redwood Flag Football Blows Madera South Out of the Water in a Stunning 80-0 Victory

On Thursday, August 20th, 2026, the Lady Rangers made history by playing the first Girls Flag Football Game in VUSD history, as well as landing a dominant 80-0 victory. Head Coach Michael Wright, defensive coordinator Marcus Moore, and two players look over their statement victory.

By Fabian Anguiano and Ellie Hernandez

With the Rangers scoring eighty total points, they were only two shy of the national record for most points scored in a flag football game.

Quarterback Miranda Ortiz ‘28, put on a video game-like performance with a total of eight touchdowns. She ran for a touchdown, returned a punt for a touchdown, and threw six touchdown passes.

Ortiz felt a good amount of happiness after the game because they got to put up so many points in their first game.

Ortiz’s favorite thing about flag football is getting to play with all her teammates that she has also played with in soccer.

Getting to play a sport like soccer has helped Ortiz with her speed, moving in the pocket, and breaking away.

Ortiz believes she could have done better by completing more of her passes.

Wide Receiver Adriana-Soria-Rosales ‘27, had five receiving touchdowns in this history-making game.

Coming into the game, Rosales and the team were expecting to win. They didn’t expect themselves to win by as much, but they are all hyped about the fact that they showcased a shutout.

Rosales plays both soccer and track outside of flag football.

Soccer has helped Rosales as a football player by, “Being able to move quickly and switch directions fast just because you’re constantly moving around really quickly,” said Rosales.

After a thrilling receiving performance in a historic game, Rosales is, “Definitely excited; I’m happy, I’m just kind of proud of myself and shocked with myself that I did so well and that I did score that many touchdowns.”

Girls Flag Football will travel to Santa Maria High School on Saturday, August 22nd, to play against Pioneer Valley and Santa Maria.

Rosales and the team plan to prepare by bringing the same energy that they brought to their first game and to hope that they play as well as they did.

Defensive Coordinator Marcus Moore prepared the defense for their first game by, “We went and really applied ourselves on just focusing on the basics as we are just starting out. We want to make sure we’re going at a very high tempo and doing our jobs correctly,” said Moore.

What they saw out there was just what they were looking for, but there is still room for improvement.

There were little mistakes made by the linebackers towards the end of the third quarter and a bit towards the end of the fourth quarter. The linebackers weren’t dropping deep enough, so that led to Madera South getting some completions in. Just little mistakes that need to get fixed up.

Moore is going to prepare the defense for Saturday by having them, “Go back and correct all the mistakes that were made today. We’ll go and see what Santa Maria and Pioneer Valley do. Make little adjustments; keep it basic, fly around 100%, and make plays.”

The defense pitched a dominant shutout. Moore believes that the element the defense did best in was the tenacity of everyone going in. People who were on the sidelines on both offense and defense were cheering the team on. It was a great effort.

As a defensive coordinator, to pitch a shutout in such a historic game was, “Wild, just being able to be a part of this and have everyone really give it their all, and again we’ve been only practicing since June. Being able to do this is just a crazy experience and a crazy moment for Redwood and all the ladies out there performing,” said Moore.

Moore had more to say, “Great job with everyone here. It was an awesome crowd, awesome atmosphere, and an awesome effort from the ladies. Kudos to everyone involved in that; it’s a great experience to be a part of.”

Head Coach Michael Wright has been preparing the team in practice for the season by emphasizing their execution. They want to execute what they know they are good at. They wanted to make sure they could execute in a game since they had no scrimmage. To be able to do what they did right away was awesome and really exciting. 

Scoring eighty points is a great triumph, but to Wright, that is not the main focus, “I’m not too concerned about the score as much as I am. I’m really proud of the girls for staying focused the entire time. Whether you’re losing by a lot or winning by a lot, to me that doesn’t matter. It’s more about executing the entire time,” said Wright

The girls had never played flag football before, so their willingness to buy into what the coaches are preaching is huge and is a great start to their year.

What Wright believes the team could have done better during the game is being more efficient with their extra points. Some of them were a little off, and some of that was because of coaching. The girls were doing everything they could to score those extra points. Wright and the coaching staff need to get better in that area, but it should be utilized as a learning opportunity nonetheless.

Heading into a game on Saturday, this game gives the team a good amount of momentum. It lets them know that they can perform at a really high level.

Wright’s plan for the rest of the season is to hopefully do what they just did every week. They want to stay injury-free and take care of their players’ bodies, and continue to create depth.

Wright had more to say, “Really proud of our girls. Happy to be a teacher and coach at Redwood. I’m so grateful to be here and really proud.”

Tags: blowout, football, gigantea, Gigantea athletics, Historic, Redwood, redwood athletes, redwood athletics, visalia ca