Even a two-hour weather delay couldn’t stop Salpointe Catholic from beating Mesa Eastmark in the 4A state championship game on Saturday, Nov. 22, at Corona del Sol in Tempe.
The Salpointe Catholic Lancers celebrate their 17-0 win over the Eastmark Firebirds for the 4A flag football championship at Corona del Sol High School in Tempe, on Nov. 22, 2025.
No. 4 Salpointe weathered the delay after lightning forced officials to send players, coaches and spectators inside before taking down No. 2 Eastmark 17-0 to win the 4A title in the first year of the program and finish 16-1. The Lancers were led by two rushing touchdowns from freshman quarterback Isla Collins.
“She’s awesome,” Salpointe coach Barrie Pedersen said about the freshman. “I’ve had the luxury of knowing Isla since she was 7 or 8. She’s been playing on club teams that I coached growing up. She’s always this special. She typically plays with the boys and schools them. She actually asked me to apply for this job. I had a hard time saying no to her.”
Salpointe Catholic Lancers quarterback Isla Collins scrambles out of the backfield against the Eastmark Firebirds during their 4A flag football championship game at Corona del Sol High School in Tempe, on Nov. 22, 2025.
Collins scored her first touchdown on an 8-yard run at the end of the first quarter to go up 7-0 and added her second in the middle of the fourth quarter, also scoring from 8 yards out, to make it 14-0 with 5:35 left in the game. The Lancers added a late 21-yard field goal from junior Andie Tkalcevic to extend the lead to 17-0.
The state title game performance for Collins caps off an incredible first season at the high school level. Collins, a youth national team player for the United States, played and looked beyond her years as Salpointe fielded its first team in program history.
“I’m so excited,” Collins said. “This team is everything to me. We earned it. We put our names in the history book. We let everyone know just because it’s our first year, it doesn't mean anything. We are here to play.”
Salpointe has a rich history in other sports, like football, soccer, basketball, softball and track and field, but the Lancers are new to flag football. The sport had its first sanctioned season in Arizona in 2023 and has expanded from two conferences to four.
Salpointe Catholic Lancers head coach Barrie Pedersen talks to his team as they celebrate their 17-0 win over the Eastmark Firebirds for the 4A flag football championship at Corona del Sol High School in Tempe, on Nov. 22, 2025.
“It says we have athletes,” Pedersen said. “I’m the beneficiary of one of the best soccer programs in the entire state — a lot of these girls on those teams. I have an Open basketball team, where I got girls coming from there. I’ve got a state runner-up softball team, I got girls from there. They’re no strangers to competing at a high level.”
With Collins helming the offense for years to come, optimism is high for Pedersen and Salpointe moving forward.
The Eastmark Firebirds end the season 16-4. It’s a sour end to what is now the best season in school history. Eastmark was upset as the No. 1 seed in the quarterfinals in 2023 and was decimated by injuries in 2024.
Still, coach Nick Garces sees this year as a building block. All three key players from this season (junior quarterback Paige McCrabb and junior wide receivers Kinsley McCarty and Mikaela Oberstein) are returning.
“We have our core of offensive players and we have a lot of youth coming in,” Garces said. “I’m lucky, we have a junior high built in, and I coach them. I know what we have coming through the pipeline. There’s huge optimism. We aren’t going to skip a beat. I feel like we’re going to get better.”
