Bee’s Best: Meet The Sacramento Bee’s 2024 All-Metro high school girls flag football teams
Even if they didn’t know her name, the buzz she created was palpable.
When asked who was considered the region’s top overall player this season, the overwhelming consensus among area flag football coaches went something like this: “The Pondo QB.”
Her name: Brooklynn Nordquist. Write that down. The senior quarterback for the Ponderosa Bruins of Shingle Springs, who completed the first unbeaten season in the brief two-year history of flag football in the Sac-Joaquin Section, headlines The Sacramento Bee’s 2024 All-Metro Flag Football Team as the Player of the Year.
“She’s a special athlete,” said Ponderosa head coach Tyson Escobar. “In flag football, you want the ball in your best athlete’s hands, and her being the quarterback, she had the ball every snap.”
Nordquist was the only player in the 200-team section to finish in the top 10 in passing yards (4,723), touchdown passes (87), rushing yards (1,423) and defensive interceptions (22). She completed 69% of her passes while rushing for 18 scores and added 177 receiving yards and three TD catches for kicks.
Nordquist was a Bee All-Metro selection in basketball last season and found football to be a new charge. She has helped power Ponderosa to a 10-0 start in basketball as a guard.
“It’s just crazy to even think about,” Nordquist said of her nomination for this honor. “Just a kid who’s always liked football can be Player of the Year. Just crazy.”
Escobar said that Nordquist played quarterback for the Junior Bruins tackle football program before she arrived at Ponderosa, where she quickly became a multi-sport marvel for the Bruins. Nordquist eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau last year during basketball season and is a catcher/outfielder for Ponderosa’s section championship-caliber softball team. She also has a bit of a daredevil factor as she races motocross, which explains her quick decision-making on the football field.
“It’s just such a fun sport,” Nordquist said of flag football. “If I could play in college, I’d probably play (flag football) over basketball.”
Nordquist went 20-for-29 for 316 yards and tied a season-high with six touchdown passes in the Division II section championship game, a 40-26 win over Woodcreek, capping a 25-0 season for the Bruins in their first year as a flag football program.
Escobar led the Bruins to perfection
Not only did Ponderosa have the best player, it had the best coach in Escobar, The Bee’s 2024 Coach of the Year.
The Bruins’ section championship win against Woodcreek made Escobar, a Ponderosa alum, a championship coach for three different sports. He’s won more than 20 with the wrestling team, a sport in which he excelled as a prep. He captured one as an assistant on the softball team in 2023, and now in flag football.
Escobar brought in the Bruins’ softball staff, which included Dwayne Brekke, Jim O’Rourke and Steve Montoya, to accompany him for the school’s inaugural flag football campaign.
“We had no idea or expectations,” Escobar said. “I think it was after the Del Campo game (that we thought we had something). They were physical and they had athletes all over the field, and we beat them by two touchdowns. That was when I thought things were starting to click.”
Others considered for Coach of the Year included 2023 winner Steve Birch of Del Oro, Eric Cavaliere of Oak Ridge, Jay Lottes of Del Campo and Tony Martello of Colfax.
McClatchy’s Throckmorton: Offensive Player of the Year
McClatchy burst onto the scene with 23 consecutive wins to start the season and outscored opponents by an average of nearly 30 points with junior Daisy Throckmorton at quarterback.
According to stats reported by her coaches on MaxPreps, she led the entire country with 9,444 total yards, averaging out to more than 325 yards per game. She threw for an otherworldly 8,625 yards at a 71.6% completion rate with 118 touchdowns. She also ran for 819 yards for the 27-2 Lions of the Sacramento City Unified School District.
Throckmorton’s play-making ability allowed five different McClatchy players to reach over 1,000 receiving yards with six having double-digit receiving touchdowns.
“(They made it) super easy,” Throckmorton said. “They all ran great routes, they’re fast, natural players, and it’s nice having that one player you can get the ball to, but I like to spread it out.”
Throckmorton is now in the middle of the Lions’ girls basketball season, ranked second by The Bee. Still a junior, she’ll be back in the fall for Year 2 of McClatchy flag football.
“I’m never satisfied,” she said. “I wanna come back and do it again and go even further next year. The job is definitely not finished.”
Del Campo’s Hatcher-Simmons a stopper
The best defensive players might not always have the most eye-popping numbers, but they are often chosen for being the most impactful on the field. That’s why The Bee selected Del Campo senior Zenallah Hatcher-Simmons as the Defensive Player of the Year.
At linebacker, Hatcher-Simmons was the best defensive player for the Cougars, who rallied to knock off previously unbeaten Livingston in the section Division III championship. She had two interceptions in that game, including a pick-six that gave Del Campo a late lead.
“She’s our heartbeat,” said Del Campo coach Jay Lottes. “She’s one of the founding members of this program. When you’re creating a program, you want to know what your identity is going to be? Big-time players make big-time plays in big games.”
Hatcher-Simmons was an accomplished athlete before flag football. She was a New York state shot put champion who later became a Sac-Joaquin Section champion in California. In football, she finished with 70 tackles, two sacks and seven interceptions for a Del Campo team that went 17-3 and finished as Foothill Valley League.
“I’m probably the most aggressive one on the team,” Hatcher-Simmons said. “I’m the person they look for if there’s something dirty going on. Like, just breathe it off, but I’m watching you now. In a team aspect, that’s my family and I have their back 100%.”