![\"Grayce](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/RAS-L-Grayce-Padilla-2.jpg\")
Grayce Padilla, a 2026 Ramona High alumna, has returned to coach the junior varsity flag football team. (Stephanie Ogilvie)<\/p>\nWhen Ramona High needed a junior varsity flag football coach this season, the athletic staff didn\u2019t have to look far.<\/p>\n
The varsity coaches last spring asked the senior players if any of them were interested in the job.<\/p>\n
One was defensive back Grayce Padilla.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey really wanted us to come back, especially coach Robbie (Bash),\u201d Padilla said. \u201cHe asked me personally. For a number of reasons, the other seniors weren\u2019t able to do it. I thought it might be fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
It turns out the now 18-year-old San Diego Mesa College freshman, with a little help from varsity coaches, Robyn and Robert Bash and Wes Bryant, was correct about how moving from playing to coaching in one year might be exciting.<\/p>\n
Challenging, but fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe scored our first touchdown last week (against El Capitan) and the girls were so excited,\u201d Padilla said. \u201cThey were leaping for joy and so was I. It was one of those little steps that shows how far we\u2019ve come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed.<\/p>\n
Padilla found out she was approved to coach the Bulldogs in June, but didn\u2019t get all of her clearances until July. After tryouts were announced, 40 potential players signed up.<\/p>\n
When practice started on Aug. 1, the group slowly whittled itself down to 13 varsity players and the 20 who make up the JV team, which has started 0-5.<\/p>\n
Grayce Padilla, a 2026 Ramona High alumna, has returned to coach the junior varsity flag football team. (Stephanie Ogilvie)<\/p>\n
The record isn\u2019t the part that has Padilla enthused.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we started, a lot of the players didn\u2019t know what downs were or what a first down was,\u201d said Padilla, who played varsity her junior and senior years after the sport was officially approved. \u201cSome of the players\u2019 knowledge consisted of playing Madden video games.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt turns out the age difference (most of the players are 14-year-old freshmen) is no big deal,\u201d she said. \u201cTwo players returned from last year and although the varsity practiced against the JVs, I wasn\u2019t real close to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey actually think it\u2019s cool (her being so young) because when I want to explain something, I can jump right in and show them,\u201d Padilla said. \u201cSome of the girls were saying things like, \u2018wow, she\u2019s fast, really fast\u2019 when I ran some plays, but I\u2019m not that fast \u2014 some of the freshmen are faster than I am.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m close enough in age to them to understand what they\u2019re thinking, and they have so much fun,\u201d she said. \u201cThey joke a lot and they make me laugh, but when it comes time to be serious, they get serious.\u201d<\/p>\n
Interestingly, because of a play introduced just last week, the Bulldogs scored their first touchdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe practiced running reverses and at first, the players ran into each other,\u201d Padilla explained. \u201cBut they got it down by the end of practice. Work and repetition. So, a few plays before the touchdown, we ran a reverse and I think that made El Capitan\u2019s players think we might do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harlow Kauwe-Radelow broke a 20-yard run for the TD. Quarterback Emma Barajas found Carli Tripoli for the extra point.<\/p>\n
Padilla said basics, like showing up on time and doing the little things over and over until they recognize them in the games and then do them without thinking, have allowed the team to make dramatic progress.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the first game (a 32-0 loss to Cathedral Catholic), we couldn\u2019t move the ball at all,\u201d Padilla said. \u201cBut against El Capitan we could. They\u2019ve come a long way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Padilla said she played some flag football and soccer, which her mother, Alica, coached. But, when the school added flag football, she knew that despite playing soccer, which sport she preferred.<\/p>\n
But coaching?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s fun,\u201d she said, \u201cand we have some players who might get called up for the playoffs at the end of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for Padilla, she is focusing on academics at Mesa because the community college doesn\u2019t offer flag football and she doubts she\u2019ll have the time to try to help start the program.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Ramona won\u2019t have to search for a JV coach in 2027.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m definitely coaching next year,\u201d she promised.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Ramona High needed a junior varsity flag football coach this season, the athletic staff didn\u2019t have to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[183539,183541,183540,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-466049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-grayce-padilla","tag-ramona-high-class-of-2026","tag-ramona-high-flag-football","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}