Newbury Park girls beat Yorba Linda to lead in first playoff win – Daily News

The CIF Southern Section flag football single-elimination playoffs are win-or-go-home. Newbury Park wasn’t ready to go home yet and showed it could keep going with a win against Yorba Linda.

The Panthers defeated the visiting Mustangs 21-20 in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 2 playoffs on Tuesday.

The Panthers (14-7) advance to the second round on Saturday where they will face Esperanza.

For now, the Panthers can celebrate their first playoff win, which comes in the first year of the CIF-SS Girls Flag Football Playoffs.

“I feel on top of the world right now,” Panthers head coach Steven Wood said. “What a great, hard-fought game against a great opponent. They were evenly matched so it was a point game, which is what the playoffs are all about. Now we have to prepare for Saturday.”

The first drive of the game for the Panthers resulted in an easy score. Even more impressively, Greta Heath completed five passes to five different receivers on the first drive, resulting in the game’s first touchdown.

Heath finished her night with 216 passing yards and three passing touchdowns.

Heath’s top receiver, Lily Johnson, finished the game with eight catches for 72 yards and two touchdowns.

“It was a nerve-wracking game,” Heath said. “We had energy and played with intensity, and that’s why we got into the end zone. In the first half we tend to play nervously and in the second half we go full throttle, but for our next game I want us to go full throttle from the start.”

The Mustangs (10-6-1) did what they could to hang on, entering halftime tied at 14-14.

On their first possession after halftime, the Mustangs managed to penetrate down the field, but a strong goal-line stop by Brooklyn Batty prevented Yorba Linda from scoring.

Yorba Linda scored later in the second half to take a 20-14 lead with nine minutes left to put some pressure on the Panthers.

Newbury Park handled the pressure well.

Another methodical push led to Heath throwing her third touchdown pass of the night to tie the score at 20-20. Heath then added the conversion pass to take a 21-20 lead.

The Panthers needed another stop to put the game on ice, and that’s exactly what they did.