After winning the Nike 11-on tournament in June hosted by the Chargers, SJHHS Girls Flag Football returned to play at the 2nd inaugural Chargers Flag Football Championship with Oakley this past August.
These events are rigorous and held for the top schools in Southern California. These tournaments are not something to sign up for, schools are personally invited by the Chargers based on record and overall season.
SJHHS Girls Flag has had the opportunity to attend multiple tournaments representing their success as they continue climbing to higher ranks.
The Nike 11-on tournament was held at the Hoag Performance Center in Costa Mesa. This was the Chargers old training facility but they now reside in El Segundo.
28 of the top teams in SoCal with over 750 athletes were able to compete in individual games, team competitions, and mini games to win points that would add up to crown the champions.
With head coach, Chad Hogancamp unable to attend the tournament, the team still battled their way through the invitational.
The Stallions went undefeated throughout the whole tournament and received the title of champions at the end of the day.
“Any plays that gave the Team Captain Sydney Hogancamp the ball had us set up for success, because she would always score touchdowns and keep up the team’s energy high,” said Peyton Graham (11).
Sydney Hogancamp was the MVP of the Chargers and Nike tournament, scoring the most touchdowns for the tournament and leading her team to the very end.
Because of their effort and constant strive for success, the Chargers invited SJHHS to another tournament in partnership with Oakley.
“Competing in the Nike tournament allowed us to come into the Oakley tournament with a mentality that we could play other schools that we have never heard of, and know that they are super good. We didn’t give up and we went all the way,” said Graham.
Oakley’s two-day invitational tournament featured 16 of the top varsity teams and 350 athletes from across SoCal.
SJHHS Girls Flag Football was able to finish the Oakley tournament in the final 8 of the championship bracket.
“The whole team felt honored to be invited to the Chargers tournament because they are a big program. We were playing against the best teams,” said Natalie Chen (10).
The first day of the tournament were games of pool play that assigned the teams into different pools. SJHHS Girls Flag Football was able to play against the #1 team in the nation, Orange Lutheran.
“They had an amazing Quarterback. We knew that going in, but we didn’t let that discourage us,” said Chen.
The teams then, in that same pool, would compete against each other to see who would level up or level down based on win-loss scores. From then on, teams were competing to win the championship.
SJHHS Girls Flag Football are currently 5-0 league and on the way to becoming league champions.
