KING CITY — In its first year as an organized sport, the King City High School flag football team won the Pacific Coast Athletic League tournament title to close the 2024 season.
The Mustangs now have a chance to claim their first Mission Division championship. King City traveled to Santa Cruz on Tuesday to face Pacific Collegiate in its final league game, with the outcome set to determine the division title. (The results came in after press time.)
The Mustangs entered the game favored after defeating Pacific Collegiate, 47-7, last month.
“This team is resilient, as we started this season 0-3 and then lost our opening league game against Watsonville,” said King City head coach Brent Slama. “We were 1-4 overall and the girls decided that they weren’t going to take that anymore and were going to change the course of the season.”
The Mustangs are an offensive machine with Katia Slama leading the Tri-County area with 4,187 passing yards and 53 touchdowns, and teammate Shyrah McDonald as the leader in receiving with 1,117 yards on 104 receptions. Slama and McDonald are also ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, in rushing.
King City leads the Tri-County with an average of 26.8 points and 275.5 yards per game.
In games played last week, the Mustangs won home games against Pajaro Valley (35-0) last Monday and beat North Salinas (41-12) last Wednesday.
In the game with the Pajaro Valley Grizzlies, Katia Slama threw for 198 yards, had three touchdown passes and rushed for two touchdowns. Heidi Medina scored two touchdowns and had one interception, while Carolina Garcia scored a touchdown.
On the defensive side, Sofia Perea had an interception, Mayte Sarabia had eight flag pulls, Melissa Iglesias had seven flag pulls and Shyrah McDonald had three sacks.
Against the North Salinas Vikings, McDonald had three receiving touchdowns, including one punt return for a touchdown, eight flag pulls and four sacks. Slama threw for 219 passing yards and five touchdowns; Sarabia scored a touchdown, with one interception and seven flag pulls. Alondra Herrejon scored a touchdown and Medina had an interception.
Members of the Mustang team this season include: Melissa Iglesias, Juliana Ramirez, Marali Ortiz, Joscelyn Acevedo, Sofia Perez, Alondra Herrejon, Mayte Sarabia, Yamilet Rivas, Shyrah McDonald, Katia Slama, Alyssa Hernandez, Heidi Medina, Carolina Garcia and Janai Chavez.
