No one can say Los Angeles Marshall did not earn the City Section Open Division flag football championship.
After upsetting top-seeded San Pedro in the semifinals, the fourth-seeded Barristers shut down second-seeded Eagle Rock’s high-powered offense to win 20-0 in the final Saturday night at Garfield High.
Jaylin Macias ran four yards for Marshall’s first touchdown in the first quarter, threw a touchdown pass to Bea Coldinera in the second quarter and ran 15 yards for the clinching touchdown midway through the third.
“Once we got to the playoffs we worked really hard and took it super-duper serious because this is the last year for a lot us, including me,” said Macias, who has been the Barristers’ quarterback for three years and also plays left wing on the school’s soccer team, earning All-City and Northern League MVP honors in both sports. “If I can, I try to pass it, but if I see green, I’ll run. I’ve dreamed of winning City since I was a freshman. We got second place in soccer [in Division I] last year, so that was the closest I’d come before this.”
L.A. Marshall quarterback Jaylin Macias celebrates a touchdown run with teammate Bailey Avilez (3) in the first quarter of the City Section Open Division flag football final on Saturday night.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Eagles quarterback Nylah Moore entered the contest having passed for 3,324 yards and 51 touchdowns but was sacked 10 times, including three plays in a row on one series by an aggressive Marshall defense that gave her little time to throw.
Eagle Rock (20-2) edged Marshall 7-0 in league play Oct. 3, three weeks before suffering its only regular-season loss, 18-7 at Wilson.
The final was postponed one week because of rain, and Barristers coach Shane Gerard took full advantage of the extra time to devise a game plan.
“We had a whole week to prepare and fine-tune the mistakes we made last time,” he said. “We wanted to pressure the quarterback with two blitzers and make her throw it before she wanted to.”
Gerard believes his team’s journey to a championship began long before the season began. “It started back in March when I entered us in top tournaments like JSerra and Hueneme. We played some of the best teams in the nation and that was on purpose,” he said, “so that when we go back to City competition we can say whatever you throw at us, we’re ready.”
Eagle Rock quarterback Nylah Moore Is chased out of the pocket by L.A. Marshall’s Charlie Gibson in the City Section Open Division flag football championship game at Garfield High School on Nov. 22, 2025.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Marshall (20-10) controlled the ball for most of the first half, forcing the Eagles to go three-and-out three times.
“As a quarterback you have to take what they give you — and Jaylin did that,” said Gerard, whose players doused him with ice water after the awards ceremony. “When they pressured her she found her check-downs and made the plays she needed to make to sustain drives.”
Both teams lost to eventual champion Banning in the open Division last year, Marshall in the quarterfinals and Eagle Rock in the semifinals.
DIVISION I
Carson receiver Kiara Chukwudi celebrates after scoring a touchdown in the second quarter of the City Division I girls’ flag football final against El Camino Real on Saturday.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Quarterback Soriya Maulupe tossed touchdown passes to Melody Romero, Island Savai Le’i and Kiarah Chukwudi in the first half, and Carson’s defense did the rest in a decisive 18-6 victory over El Camino Real.
The eighth-seeded Colts (11-12-2) forced three punts and two turnovers on downs in the second half. Carson became the third Marine League school to win a City title in the three years the section has sanctioned the sport, joining Banning and Narbonne, who captured the Open and Division I titles last fall.
After Lenci Mohrman’s interception deep in El Camino Real territory with 1:09 remaining, the 11th-seeded Royals (10-7-1) avoided the shutout on a seven-yard scamper by quarterback Talya Haim.
El Camino Real blanked Cleveland 26-0 for the Division II crown last year.
DIVISION II
Sun Valley Magnet quarterback Daisy Muniz throws the ball just before her flag is pulled by San Fernando rusher Kaylie Lowe during the City Section Division II championship flag football game on Saturday.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Daisy Muniz threw three touchdown passes and Sun Valley Magnet had four interceptions to hold off San Fernando 20-12.
Griselda Roca scored on a 45-yard reception on the Pioneers’ second play from scrimmage, picked off a pass late in the first half and knocked the ball away from San Fernando receiver Cami Bermudez at the goal line on fourth down to preserve the Pioneers’ lead with 9:09 left.
Ashley Carias’ interception at the Pioneers’ 25 with 29 seconds left clinched the victory for top-seeded Sun Valley Magnet (16-2).
Bermudez caught two touchdown passes from Fatima Palafox — the first from 20 yards out that tied it 6-6 in the first quarter and the second an 11-yarder late in the third quarter — for the third-seeded Tigers (11-11).
DIVISION III
Bellamarie Luster scores the winning touchdown — her third of the game — in the fourth quarter of Westchester’s 37-32 victory in the City Section Division III girls’ flag football championship game on Saturday.
Sophomore Bellamarie Luster scored three touchdowns — including the decisive score on a 53-yard swing pass with 8:42 left — as Westchester upset Hawkins, 37-32.
The teams combined for 53 points in the first half. A quarterback sneak by Kaylee Mitchell gave the 13th-seeded Comets (10-4) a 31-18 lead early in the third quarter, but back-to-back scoring runs by quarterback Desire Bravo gave the second-seeded Hawks (17-9) a one-point lead heading to the fourth.