Pajaro Valley flag football head coach Cesar Rojas was thrown straight into the Grizzlies den when the school decided to launch the program one week prior to the 2024 season.
He had just seven days to prepare 25 student-athletes using a simple playbook that they all had to learn on the fly, including the coaching staff.
“You have no idea, last year it was very, very basic,” Rojas said.
Rojas, who is also head coach of Pajaro Valley’s boys’ soccer team, was receiving phone calls to set up games against teams that simply outmatched them in every phase of the game.
“This year, it’s totally different,” he said. “We got anybody who tells us let’s play, let’s play.”
Pajaro Valley is off to a 4-0 start to begin the Pacific Coast Athletic League Mission Division season following a crushing 44-0 win against Alvarez on Thursday.
Stats go here for the Grizzlies, who have outscored their opponents 156-0 this season.
Rojas believes the program is now set in place, especially having assistant coach Jordan Ruiz by his side.
Both coaches have very different roles, though.
Rojas keeps an eye on making sure players attend class, make grades, keep out of trouble, stay healthy and push them to be the very best.
Meanwhile, Ruiz, a PV alumnus and former football player, has a plethora of ideas he brought to the program after learning under current St. Francis head coach Frank Galvan—a pioneer in the sport.
“We’re just throwing [players] in there and mixing them up and making the best out of it,” Rojas said.
The Grizzlies put in extra work by conditioning through the summer, which Rojas noted they also never did in 2024. He said this year they had time to prepare and now they can see the results.
“We’re putting numbers on the scoreboard,” he said.
Daisy Rincon and Melloney Venegas are the two lone seniors, while Jezlynn Calderon, Perla Rivera and Analia Vasquez lead the junior class.
Rincon, who was named team captain by her peers, had one touchdown reception in last week’s 39-0 blowout victory against Marina. Calderon recorded one interception, while Rivera finished with two sacks.
“[Rincon] has that experience also playing soccer,” Rojas said. “She’s always talking to the girls, ‘We don’t argue, we need to communicate better.’ I feel that Denisse [Magallon] is also learning from that, as well. It’s gonna be passed along.”
The Grizzlies are 24 players deep, yet a majority of them are underclassmen with 10 freshmen and seven sophomores leading the way.
Sophomore quarterback Aliyah Suarez has steadily improved since the summer, and sophomore team captain Denisse Magallon has been a scoring machine for the Grizzlies.
Magallon has 13 touchdowns in three games played, including a six TD performance in Tuesday’s lopsided 54-0 win over North Salinas in PCAL Mission Division action.
“Last year, [Magallon] was so hard on herself,” Rojas said. “My goal with Denisse this year to make her better is work on teaching her to control her emotions.”
Magallon etched herself in the history books by becoming the first player to record the program’s first-ever touchdown last year. Since then, she’s remained focused on making herself and teammates just a little bit better each day.
“I feel like this year we’re actually focusing,” Magallon said. “Last year we were just kind of messing around, and this year we’re taking it more seriously.”
Magallon mentioned that they talked amongst themselves about last year’s trial run in a brand new sport that most of them never played before.
“We’re known as the school that didn’t win, and we wanted to change that this year,” she said. “We all really deserve it, especially Daisy [Rincon], who is a senior. I want Daisy to win something.”
Part of taking things to the next level was making the playbook larger with plays that featured real and coordinated routes.
“It’s something new but I feel like we’ve gotten used to it,” Rincon said. “It’s helped us a lot more to where we want to be. I know the girls, a lot of us want to go to CCS and we really want it.”
Rojas said like in every sport, one has to set goals. One of Pajaro Valley’s goals is to qualify for the Central Coast Section’s inaugural postseason tournament. The top two teams out of the PCAL Mission and Gabilan divisions earn automatic playoff bids.
Rojas said they never talk about capturing a league title, and would rather become the first PV team to bring home the school’s first-ever section championship.
Rincon and Magallon shared the same enthusiasm as their head coach, emphasizing that they’ll do whatever it takes to bring home the program’s first-ever CCS crown.
“They seem hungry to win a championship,” Rojas said. “We talk about it all the time at team bondings. We want to see a banner in our gym. We’re super hard on ourselves, but we want to do it this year.”
Rojas added, “Expectations are high because of the team that we have. I think we know what we’re capable of, and we feel that our girls are ready for the challenge.”
