Twenty-four hours after a 7-6 win to keep the Liberty flag football teams’ undefeated streak alive at 11-0, they lined up across from 10-1 California High. Statistically, California was the toughest opponent Liberty had faced all season. 

California’s size, speed and gameplan were expected by Lions head coach Matt Malzahn, and Thursday night it was on display from start to finish. In a 31-0 loss to the Grizzlies, the Lions were never able to find their footing after falling behind early. 

“Watching film, I knew they were well coached and knew they were disciplined,” Malzahn said. “They run good routes and they are good on defense, they are fast and have good running backs. We knew they were coming and they just did a good job tonight.” 

The 31-point loss is the Lady Lions’ worst margin of defeat in the program’s short history and their worst since the team’s debut — a 19-point defeat, 25-6, at Heritage in the program’s first-ever game in 2023.

The Lions had a rough night on both sides of the ball. Multiple three-and-outs forced them to punt. The speed and physicality from the Grizzlies’ offensive line gave captain and senior quarterback Caeli AuYeung time in the pocket to complete her passes time and time again and continue moving the ball down field. Unlucky breaks such as the deep pass that went through the hands of the Liberty safety when everyone from the bench to the home fans thought it was an interception, dropped right into the Grizzlies’ receiver’s hands resulting in an 18-0 deficit heading into the half. 

However, Malzahn knows the character of this team was something this team could look to as a positive, even in a loss of this magnitude. It was one that came on their third game in four days, this one being on the back end of a back-to-back after beating Heritage on Wednesday night.

“You know, the adversity, keeping our heads together and staying as a team and not letting it affect us,” Malzahn said about the team’s Wednesday night loss. “Even on the sidelines, we were talking about (taking it) one game at a time and we just got to move forward and learn from this.” 

When a week-long break separates a defeat from the next match, there is an urgency to get back and regroup as a team. Malzahn emphasized that postgame.

“It’s never good to go (to) the weekend with a loss, but we have some league games next week,” Malzahn said. “This was not a league game for us so we still have an opportunity to win our league which is our number one goal. Looking forward to hopefully seeing them (California High) in NCS and learning from this loss. We need to grow from this.” 

“You need to learn and you never learn when you’re winning all the time,” Malzahn said. “I’ll go in there (team locker room)and see what happens , see how they’ve adjusted to this loss and we’ll get back to it on Monday.”

The Lions will resume league play at home against Deer Valley (7-9) on Wednesday, Oct. 8 at 7 p.m.