Fall marks the end of a term for students at Dos Pueblos High School and the end of the regular season for the fall sports teams. Here’s a look at how our Chargers teams performed this fall.

Flag Football: 13-1 Channel League, 24-3 overall

Following the graduation of former senior quarterback Liliana Rodriguez, the girls’ flag football team went into the season with a lot of uncertainty as to who was going to be the starting quarterback. That uncertainty ended when Kacey Hurley (12) was announced as the starter in the summer.

Prior to the season, Hurley had never thrown a pass for the Chargers, but by the end of the season, Hurley racked up over 4,000 yards and 82 touchdowns, setting school records in both categories.

With the help of Hurley, the Chargers finished the regular season with a 22-2 overall record and a 13-1 record in Channel League, which was enough for a joint-top with rival SMHS. This win helped the girls become the first flag football team to win three Channel League titles.

To top it off, the girls finished the regular season ranked top 10 in the nation by MaxPreps, the highest finish to a regular season in program history.

The Chargers began the playoffs with a shutout win over Etiwanda High School, 20-0. They followed up this victory with a nail-biting 12-6 win over Edison High School.

In the semifinals, DPHS faced JSerra Catholic High School, the number one-ranked team in California. The game was a defensive battle with both teams forcing turnovers. In the end, the girls fell short by a score of 20-0, the first shutout in program history.

Boys Cross Country: CIF Division 2 Champions

After a fourth-place finish in CIF Division 2 in 2024, the Cross Country team went into the season with hopes of being the first Dos Pueblos athletic team to win a CIF title since 2011, when the Girls Waterpolo team won a CIF Division 1 title.

After impressive showings throughout the season, the boys qualified for CIF.

In CIF, led by the 1-2 punch of Phillip Contakes (12) and Owen Abbot (12), the boys put themselves in contention for the CIF title. In the end, DPHS would finish the race with a school record time of 1:13:30, across five runners in the three-mile. The Chargers won by four points over second-place Hart High School (84-88), clinching their first CIF Division 2 title in program history.

Girls Golf: 7-0 Channel League, 13-0 overall

Girls’ golf has been a powerhouse in the Channel League, having won all but one league title since 2000. Despite the graduation of four-time individual Channel League Champion Sagarika Manian, this was not about to change.

This year, DPHS continued their winning ways in Channel League, finishing the regular season with a 13-0 record and league with a 7-0 record, winning yet another league title, which was capped off by a 224-258 win over crosstown rivals Santa Barbara High School.

Celeste Alcarez (10) led the way for the girls, capturing her first individual Channel League title after shooting an 87 at league finals, two strokes ahead of second place and four strokes ahead of fellow Charger Danielle Hickman (12).

“Winning Channel League took me off guard, because last year I hadn’t placed in the top four, and this year I was not expecting to win,” Alcarez said. “Having that feeling of being just as good as the competition, even on my least confident days, has definitely been a fun moment for me, and has definitely opened my eyes for the future.”

Boys Water Polo: 7-1 Channel League, 25-6 overall

The boys’ water polo team has been consistent in recent years, having just one losing season since 2016. Despite this, the team won just one Channel League title during this stretch, in 2018.

This year, the team started red-hot, winning their first seven games, their best start to a season since 2015. The winning streak was then snapped by fifth-ranked Corona Del Mar High School, 17-10, in the eighth game of the season.

The boys continued their winning ways into Channel League play, wrapping up league with a final record of 7-1, and the regular season with a record of 23-5, which helped them obtain their first Channel League championship since 2018 and rank number 17 in the nation.

The Chargers then moved on to the Division 1 playoffs for the first time in 16 years, where they opened play against San Clemente High School, whom they beat 13-9. The win advanced them to the quarterfinals, where the boys faced Channel League runner-up Buena High School and prevailed in overtime, 14-13.

In the semifinals, the team faced Orange Lutheran High School. The game went down to the last couple of minutes, tied up 10-10, before Orange Lutheran scored the winning goal in the final seconds.

This loss concluded DPHS’s season with a final record of 25-6, marking the end of one of their best seasons in program history.

“What made our team special this year was our chemistry,” Lucas Neushel (11) said. “We kept the same team we had from last year, except for losing our goalie, and I think that our team chemistry really came together this season.”

Girls Tennis: 9-0 Channel League, 11-2 overall

After the girls’ tennis team fell short in their first game of the season to Cate School 10-8, they rebounded, going on to win their next 11 games, eight of which were league games.

This left the Chargers at the top of the Channel League standings ahead of a league-deciding matchup against rival SMHS, which sat in second place.

Seniors Mel Mayo and Isla Herrera led the way, going 3-0 in singles matches, accounting for more than half of the team’s points. While in doubles, the teams of Zella Cassidy (11) with Sonia Flathman (11) and Atria Hussein (11) with Kaitlyn Marden (12) picked up two wins apiece.

In the end, the girls won 11-7, securing DPHS’s fourth Channel League title this school year.

In the playoffs, the girls were drawn up against Cate, resulting in a 13-5 loss and the conclusion of their season. They ended with an undefeated record in league and an 11-2 overall record.

Boys Football: 2-3 Tri-County League, 4-6 overall

Coming off a last-second loss to Mary Star of the Sea High School in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Playoff Quarterfinals a year ago, the DPHS football team came into the season with high hopes of returning to the playoffs and finally beating crosstown rivals San Marcos High School.

The opportunity presented itself in week 10 with high stakes: the winner would take the last Tri-County League playoff spot.

Micah Barnhart (12) started the scoring with a 38-yard touchdown, giving DPHS a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter. SMHS immediately answered with a touchdown of their own, and the game went into halftime tied 7-7.

The second half was a total slugfest with both defenses getting stop after stop, keeping the game tied at 7-7 going into overtime.

SMHS opened the overtime scoring with a 23-yard field goal, giving them a 10-7 lead. DPHS answered with a similar drive capped off by a 22-yard field goal by Drew Schultz (12) that sent the game into double overtime.

DPHS started the second overtime with the ball and were quickly forced into a fourth-and-four on the SMHS 7-yard line, where they made the gutsy call to go for it rather than electing for a field goal. The play resulted in a fumble, which SMHS returned for a 70-yard touchdown, putting them in the lead 16-10 and ending DPHS’s playoff hopes in the process.

With the 16-10 loss, the Chargers football finished their season with a final record of 4-6 and a league record of 2-3.

Girls Volleyball: 5-9 Channel League, 5-23 overall

With seven seniors graduating last year, the girls’ volleyball team entered the year with a largely new roster.

DPHS opened the season losing their first eight games. After the tough start to the season, the Chargers went on to finish the year with a 5-23 overall record and a 5-9 record in Channel League, ranking sixth out of eight teams and missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade.