The Piedmont High School girls football team got its first win of the season on September, defeating Miramonte 12-6 at Witter Field.
Quarterback Edie Elmquist rushed for 91 yards and a touchdown and completed 17 of 41 passes for 131 yards and another score.
“If I’m getting rushed and I feel that pressure and I see the middle open, I’m going to run,” Elmquist said. “If I see a rout open, I’m going to throw it. It’s dependent on if my receivers are running their routs right. If the middle’s open and they’re running their routs right, it’s up to me. I like running the ball.”
The flag football rules were changed this year, with a limitation on how many times a team can run the ball on a series eliminated. Elmquist took advantage of that.
“She sees the field,” Highlanders coach Beth Black said. “The last run that she had for the first down, I said, ‘What did you see?’ She goes, ‘It was wide open!’ Then I’m like, ‘Then you made the right choice!’”
Piedmont (1-2) took advantage of an early Matadors mistake to go up 6-0 in the first quarter. On a punt attempt, the ball was snapped over Alice Olson’s head. By rule, when the ball hits the ground, it is dead and the Highlanders took over on the Miramonte 4. After a one-yard completion to Cory Minor, Elmquist hit Stephanie Lee on the right side of the end zone for the touchdown.
“It’s rare for us to go up first,” Black said. “I think they felt the mental energy from that. That felt pretty good. They progressed from there.”
Said safety Dahlia Osman, “I think for our team when we get a lead early on, it really helps us in the head space, we get more confident and get more energy.”
Jordan Palsa (purple) reaches for Penelope Hagan’s flags 
Agatha Filha Gama on a run
In the second quarter, Elmquist hit Malia Williams for a 29-yard completion to the Matadors 2. Elmquist ran the ball in on the next play to make it 12-0.
Miramonte came right back on the second play of the next possession with Penelope Hagan hitting Ava Noga on a deep pass and Noga spinning away form the Highlanders would-be tacklers for a 54-yard touchdown. That came with one minute, 46 seconds left in the first half. There would be no more scoring.
Piedmont’s defense played well, otherwise holding the Matadors to 128 yards of offense. The Highlanders intercepted Hagan three times, with Cea’naiya Alexander, Elspeth Grippando, and ball-hawk Osman each picking a ball off. Osman had another chance late in the game but had the ball go right through her hands. Osman already has six interceptions in three games.
Dahlia Osman reacts after dropping a potential interception 
Cea’naiya Alexander 
Elspeth Grippando (21) is blocked by Ligaya Stukuls
“It’s easier when I get mad and go for the ball,” Osman said. “But then when I think about it a little too much, I get in my head and the basket opens up like that last one. But I definitely like being back there and I definitely like being an interrupter.”
She continued, “I’m all the way back and everybody’s watching their players and their zones and I’m watching the QB’s eyes and seeing where they’re going and shifting.”
Osman’s interception was a spectacular play with her flipping as she caught the ball.
Elmquist, a sophomore, has been working on her quarterback play.
“At the end of last season, I went to our banquet and I thought, ‘I need more, next season I need more,’” Elmquist said. “All summer I worked. I was here. I was working, I was running, I was lifting, I was doing everything I needed to do, I was playing with another [club] team. So that [boosted] my confidence. And also having girls that I know have been out here two years that can do their job, I can trust them. That also brings up my confidence.”
Miramonte was playing its first game of the season.
“I think our team is still getting confident with our playbook,” Matadors assistant coach Kevin Newby said. “And also getting confident with our own players. For us I think we just missed on a couple of plays.
“We talk about bench-marking. So we now kind of know our players better, we know our plays better, we know the coaching staff better. I think we just have to build on the groove we started today.”
Piedmont lost to Las Lomas at home on Sept. 2, 33-6. The Highlanders next game is at home against Tennyson on Sept. 9.