It’s a history-making repeat for Olympian in flag football finals

If anyone is looking for a CIF player of the year candidate, they should probably look no farther than Olympian High School senior Aubrey Tibayan.

She left her mark on last year’s history-making Division IV championship team with 208 points, 1,845 receiving yards, 355 rushing yards and 33 touchdowns.

 She was even more deadly this year with 281 points, 2,186 receiving yards, 1,055 rushing yards, 541 passing yards and 45 touchdowns as the Lady Eagles won the Division V title Saturday with a 25-12 win over 12th-seeded Canyon Crest Academy at Escondido High School.

Olympian (8-12) becomes the first Metro Conference team to win two division championships in the three-year history of the fledgling sport.

The Lady Eagles trailed the Lady Ravens (9-15) early. But then Tibayan got untracked to finish the game with 56 passing yards and one touchdown while tacking on two rushing touchdowns.

She mesmerized onlookers with 60 passing yards for two touchdowns, 20 rushing yards for one touchdown and 200 receiving yards and two touchdowns in a scintillating performance in a 26-21 semifinal win over third-seeded San Diego.

While Tibayan consistently made headlines, she was not the entire team. Far from it.

Sophomore Alexa Castaneda passed for 4,117 yards and 48 touchdowns, including one in the division final. Sophomore Andrea Villareal Enciso caught five touchdown passes while junior Sophia Ramirez reeled in three TD passes

Senior Jasmine Bartels keyed the Lady Eagles with 192 tackles while senior Hannah Cash collected 121 defensive stops. Senior Madison Dyer logged 10 sacks while junior Catherine Martin had six interceptions (five for Bartels and senior Camaya Rogers).

There were definite obstacles to overcome this season, according to the team.

“Several of our starters graduated last season and with the pressure of a CIF championship win on our backs, I wasn’t sure what to expect for this season,” Bartels said. “We played a very tough schedule. We had a rough season, but we made CIF playoffs again. In each CIF game, we trailed in the beginning. But in the end, we persevered, managed to play together as a team, and won every game.

“It was definitely a whole team effort to win the Division V CIF championship. Everyone had a hand, and heart, in that win. We managed to win back-to-back CIF championships for Olympian High School, that’s two CIF championships in a three-year-old program. I’m very proud of our whole team and the flag football legacy we’ve created at Olympian High.” 

The Lady Eagles join Classical Academy as repeat CIF champions: The Lady Caimans won the Division II championship in 2023 and the Division I title in 2024.

Olympian head coach Michael Christensen said it’s been “an interesting season to say the least.”

“Winning back-to-back CIF titles, in any division, is absolutely something that doesn’t happen often, and we are aware of that. It is definitely an honor to be the first ever girls fag football team to go back-to-back CIF champs in Metro Conference history. We know there is only a three-year history of the sport, but someone has to be the first to repeat as champs, right?

“We definitely had a slow start to our season. It took us well over a month, almost two months, to figure out our team identity. Every team in California faced a challenging beginning of the season with new rules presented to us only a few weeks before the season started. We tried about three different offensive schemes with multiple quarterbacks and personnel in different positions. It was a challenge for us, especially how we needed to change our game to relate to the new rules, while also trying to be competitive on the field.

“We lost three or four games this year on the last plays of the game, which also made our record look worse than it was. We played a very competitive schedule all season and once we hit our stride and figured out our team, we went on a roll winning five of our last six games and had that hot streak lead us into the playoffs. As is the case with pro sports, it’s all about how you’re playing when playoffs arrive. You’re either on the up or the down, we were on the upside. 

“The reason we were able to go as far as we did was because of our senior leadership and experience. We have six seniors on the team who are three-year veterans and original flag players from year one. There aren’t many teams that can say that. We were led on defense by senior linebacker Jasmine Bartels. Jasmine has been a three-year starter on varsity and two-year captain. She is a two-time all-league player and was the top tackler in the county this year and top five tackler last year.

“She had some support on defense from other senior standouts Hannah Cash, linebacker, who was a top 10 tackler in the county, Camaya Rogers a two-year starter at safety, Madison Dyer at the linebacker position, and Elianna Martin a fellow captain locking down the corner spot on defense.

“ Offensively we were led by the county’s top scoring athlete, senior,Aubrey Tibayan. Aubrey is also a three-year starter, three-time all-league player, first team All -CIF last year, and a nominee for the PPR Flag Football Player of the Year this year. Including the playoffs, she finished the season with over 30 touchdowns. She was our backbone for the offense. She is an amazing athlete and is hoping to continue playing at the next levels as she has been working out with USA Flag, Olympic Flag, NFL Flag, etc. Aubrey was supported on offense by our sophomore quarterback Alexa Castaneda, sophomore athlete Andrea Villareal Enciso, and seniors Makayla Collins and Malayiah Williams, playing nearly every down on offense all season long. 

We have built a culture here at Olympian for flag football and expect to be a contender year in and year out. Our JV program has produced three straight winning seasons and great role players, so I see us always being a team to look out for and being competitive year by year. We’re already excited for next season!”

San Diego Section Girls Flag Football Playoff Champions

Division I: (2) Torrey Pines (19-10) 20, (5) Westview (18-3) 13

Division II: (4) Vincent Memorial (23-6 40), (3) Imperial (23-4-2) 34

Division III: (6) Mira Mesa (14-10) 25, (4) Brawley (15-13-1) 0

Division IV: (5) Patrick Henry (12-9) 25, (7) Mt, Carmel (12-10) 20

Division V: (2) Olympian (8-12) 25, (12) Canyon Crest Academy (9-15) 12

Road to the championship

Olympian High School

Quarterfinals: (2) Olympian 20, (7) Valhalla 7. Leaders: Alexa Castaneda 277 passing yards, two TD, Aubrey Tibayan 216 receiving yards, two TD, Jasmine Bartels 11 tackles

Semifinals: (2) Olympian 26, (3) San Diego 21. Leaders: Aubrey Tibayan 2 passing TD, one rushing TD, two receiving TD, Jasmine Bartels 13 tackles

Photo Gallery by Jon Bigornia