Cats win inaugural Bobcat Bowl

The Saddleback women's flag football team won the inaugural Bobcat Bowl Flag Football Invitational on Friday at the Saddleback Stadium Complex.  The Bobcats captured the title with a thrilling win in triple-overtime over Cypress College.

The teams got a break in the weather for the first-ever community college tournament in the state of California after storms disrupted events for most of the week heading into Friday's historic event.  Eight teams from Southern California battled for eight hours before the Bobcats hoisted the trophy as the champions of the Bobcat Bowl 2026.

Saddleback opened with a 26-0 win over East Los Angeles College.  The Bobcats had a gigantic performance from Grace Goedhart, who had three touchdown catches in the win.  Brooklee Harris had two touchdown passes and a touchdown run as the Cats improved to 4-0 for the season.

Game two had a different feel as the Bobcats took on Santa Barbara City College, who was riding high after a big win against Southwestern College in their opening game.  The Bobcats had a 14-0 lead until the 7:00 mark of the second half when Santa Barbara turned a turnover into points to cut the lead to 14-6.  Saddleback held on for the narrow win to go to 5-0 for the season and 2-0 in the tournament.

Saddleback then needed a win over Southwestern College in the third game of the day to earn a spot in the championship game later on in the afternoon.  The Bobcats wasted no time in taking care of business, scoring on the opening drive when Kirra Clavijo found Talita Robinson for a 19-yard score and a 7-0 lead.  The Bobcats led 14-0 at the half and turned up the juice in the second half for a 39-0 win.  Saddleback had interception returns from Isabelle Whittaker (19 yards) and Makayla Velasquez (20 yards) in blowing out the Jaguars for a spot in the title game.

Saddleback took on Cypress College in the championship game, a team they had only faced once in a scrimmage last season and a school that is a rival in the Orange Empire Conference for the other competitive sports in the department.  The Chargers advanced to the title game with wins against Golden West (13-7), Ventura (13-7) and MiraCosta (20-7). 

Cypress took an early lead when they drove down the field and scored with 14:05 left in the first half for a 6-0 lead.  The Chargers missed the extra point, which would play a role down the stretch. 

The lead remained at 6-0 until late in the game when Saddleback took over the ball at their own 36-yard line with just over two minutes remaining in the game.  The Bobcats then turned to veteran Clavijo at quarterback, and she completed three straight passes to get the Bobcats all the way down to the Cypress 1-yard line.  Three plays later the Cats cashed in when Clavijo found Olivia Green for a 1-yard score to tie the game.  Saddleback, however, like Cypress, was denied on the extra point with under a minute remaining.

The game went to overtime, which was alternating conversion tries to determine a winner.  Cypress and Saddleback were both successful on their opening tries and unsuccessful on the second, sending the game to a third overtime period.  Cypress went first and was denied when their pass fell incomplete, giving Saddleback a chance to win the game.  The Bobcats made good on the opportunity when Clavijo found Breanna Sandmark open in the right side of the end zone and she reached down for a fingertip grab for the game-winner.

Saddleback is now 7-0 to start the season.  The Bobcats will play again on Tuesday when they host El Camino College at 3:00 PM.