When it comes to throwing a football, perhaps no girl in the Southland can do it with more accuracy and distance than Makena Cook. The Orange Lutheran sophomore is relishing the quarterback role and has led the Lancers’ flag team to a 14-0 start and the No. 1 ranking in the country by MaxPreps.
As is the case for many of her peers, flag football is not Cook’s primary sport. That would be soccer. However, watching her poise in the pocket, one would think she has been playing football all her life.
“I’ve been playing soccer since I was 4,” said the 15-year-old from Costa Mesa, a forward for the Slammers FC club team based in Newport Beach. “I played in the Matt Leinart League for about two years, then I joined Conquer,” an Orange County girls’ club program. “Soccer is a lot of pressure. This is more of a fun thing for me.”
For Cook, it is more fun when you are winning, and her team is doing that in large part because of her. Cook has completed 298 of 410 passes for 3,377 yards and 58 touchdowns with only 13 interceptions while rushing for 214 yards and three scores. Not bad for someone who played mostly receiver last fall when she earned Trinity League most valuable player and All-County first-team honors.
One beneficiary of Cook’s precision is Orange Lutheran receiver Keylee Baker, who played with her on the U.S. 15U national team that captured gold in the Junior International Cup over the summer. Cook played wide receiver and safety and was named MVP.
“She’s able to throw the ball far and makes good decisions,” said Baker, who is also on the track and field team, specializing in triple jump, hurdles and javelin. “I know if I get open, she’ll find me.”
The two have known each other since seventh grade at Santiago Charter Middle School. Every quarterback has a favorite target, and Baker is Cook’s.
“Keylee is fast, she runs nice routes and finds different spots,” Cook said. “I’m always looking for her.”
Cook’s efficiency was on display Sept. 5 against Eastvale Roosevelt, when she ran for one score and tossed touchdown passes to five different receivers in a 54-6 rout. Her plan is to play college soccer — her dream school is Stanford but she also likes Georgia, Texas, Duke and North Carolina — but right now she is content to have the ball in her hands, not at her feet.
“Flag is so much fun because I can express myself in different ways,” she said. “It’s a backyard sport. I like quarterback because I have a lot of control in what happens. You can set the tone of the game.”
Athletic genes run through Cook’s family. Her dad, Mikhail, played football in high school and college, her mom, Stefanie, played softball in high school, and her aunt Lisa Longaker is in the UCLA softball hall of fame after setting several program records, including career wins (89), wins in a season (31), innings pitched in a season (259-1/3) and no-hitters in a season (three). She even was selected to the NCAA All-Decade team for the 1980s.
Cook is also close to her older brother Cooper, a defensive lineman at Tustin High, and they go to each other’s games when they can.
“I used to throw the football with my brother for hours,” Cook said. “He’s 15 months older, but we’re almost like twins. I even played on his baseball team.”
Cook can throw a spiral 55 to 60 yards in the air, and Orange Lutheran coach Kristen Sherman appreciates her star’s willingness to put team goals ahead of personal accomplishments.
“Makena can stretch the field like no one else — she has every throw in her tool box,” Sherman said. “Her arm talent is maybe the best in the country and her leadership is impressive for her age. To be able to read the defense and see the field like she does at 15 is amazing. We want her to play like a boys’ quarterback.”
Sherman noted that Cook’s stats would look even better if not for the fact that she often sits out large portions of games with her team well ahead. Most of Orange Lutheran’s games have been blowouts by halftime. Only four opponents have managed to score more than a touchdown.
Orange Lutheran finished 20-9 last season and won the league title, but the game Cook remembers most was the very last, a gut-wrenching, 28-27 overtime defeat to Esperanza in the finals of the L.A. Chargers Tournament.
“We’ve all matured a lot from last year and losing that game set the tone for this season,” Cook said. “We remember how it felt and we don’t want that to happen again.”
The Lancers lost nine games last season — to Newport Harbor, Crean Lutheran, Beckman and three times each to Woodbridge and Esperanza. Sherman described this season as the “redemption tour” as her team has avenged its losses to Newport Harbor (28-12), Woodbridge (41-6), Crean Lutheran (26-0) and Esperanza (27-7) and will try to complete the task when it travels to Beckman on Tuesday.
Also on the horizon are league matchups Oct. 1 and 10 against Santa Margarita, which is led by another of the area’s best quarterbacks, junior transfer Madi Lam, who passed for 5,584 yards and a nation-best 91 touchdowns at Esperanza last fall.
“The Trinity League is much improved,” Sherman said. “It may be the best in SoCal.”
Cook is not about to take any game for granted. Though she enjoys riding the waves on her boogie board (Huntington Beach is her favorite) and hanging out with friends, she is all business when she steps on the field. On a typical weekday, Cook will lift weights in the morning before class, have after-school flag practice, then go to club soccer practice at night at Sage Hill or Great Park in Irvine.
If she leads the Lancers to the inaugural CIF Southern Section championship in November, all of the hard work will have been worth it.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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