The Pajaro Valley High girls flag football team was confidently aiming to close out this week with a couple of short-term goals in mind: keep their perfect record intact and push further ahead in the league standings.
But, the Grizzlies were served a sliver of humble pie following a 26-12 defeat to King City High in Pacific Coast Athletic League Mission Division action Wednesday afternoon.
“I got to give it to them, they were tough,” PV head coach Cesar Rojas said. “Really, really good team.”
With the loss, PV dropped to a 4-1 overall record. They are now tied with King City and Watsonville with a 2-1 record in Mission Division play.
The Grizzlies were coming off a pair of victories against Watsonville and Alvarez high schools on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, giving them all the confidence required to take on the Mustangs.
“I think we got too confident after beating the cross-town rivals,” said Rojas about the win over Watsonville, which defeated King City on Sept. 8. “King City came, put up a show. They did their thing.”
PV junior Denise Magallon was visibly upset after Wednesday’s game, mostly because she felt they didn’t play to their full potential like they usually do.
“I thought that we had it,” Magallon said. “But I guess we got in our heads too much. I don’t understand why, but we got in our heads too much, and that kind of messes up real bad.”
Magallon gave credit to King City for the way they took care of business, but she thinks a lack of communication and execution played a big part in their first loss of the season.
“They were doing really good passes in the middle, and once again, I think we messed up on that because we’ve had conversations about focusing on the middle,” Magallon said. “We struggled with that a few games ago, and we thought we had it again, but I guess not.”
The Grizzlies began the 2026 fall campaign with a four-game win streak. However, Rojas echoed his star player by saying they continue to fail to communicate with each other, and it showed during Wednesday’s game.
It began in the first quarter with a pair of interceptions thrown by junior quarterback Aaliyah Suarez. One of those turnovers resulted in a touchdown for King City.
PV’s defense also allowed a touchdown just before going into halftime, allowing the Mustangs to push ahead at 19-6 at the break.
Some players looked confused and Rojas attempted to calm them down, yet at times it almost seemed impossible for him.
“They need to understand our formations,” Rojas said. “They need to understand our style of play, and it’s important to work with them. That’s gonna build our program in the long run.”
With youth comes inexperience. Still, Rojas is confident this particular group will learn from their mistakes after a tough loss.
The Grizzlies have key returning players in seniors Jezlynn Calderon, Perla Rivera and Analia Vazquez, along with juniors Nadia Renteria, Xitlali Pozos and Elizabeth Zamora.
Magallon said having a good core of players coming back from last year is great because they have a familiarity. But it’s also great to have new players coming in and helping out in any way possible.
“I think we just gotta work on them more and help them out to help us out,” Magallon said.
The underclassmen include sophomores Sofia Arenas and Khloe Cisneros, along with five new freshmen: Maya Cigala, Damaris Cortez, Aryana Gonzalez, Amarely Magdeleno and Mariyah Vazquez.
“We are a small roster, but I think it’s full of potential,” Rojas said.
The season is still young. Rojas emphasized, though, that he needs to include more team bonding, which he admits they haven’t done much of this year.
PV’s third-year head coach believes doing out-of-school activities that includes the parents and guardians is what keeps teams together.
“I think we gotta get back to it,” Rojas said. “Take the girls to the beach, they love going to the beach. I think we were working way too hard in our practices.”
In 2025, they were in a similar situation after losing to Pacific Collegiate School and North Monterey County High early in the campaign.
The Grizzlies turned it around by winning the final 10 games of the regular season en route to the program’s first-ever PCAL Mission Division title.
They intend to defend the Mission Division crown as King City, Watsonville, PCS, Soledad High and North Salinas High look to dethrone them.
“We still have a big chance,” Rojas said. “It’s there for everybody.”
Next up, Pajaro Valley (4-1, 2-1) plays at Soledad (4-2, 1-1) in Mission Division play Sept. 22 at 5:45pm.
