LONG BEACH — The Northview girls flag football team joined the other nine finalists for this year’s CIF Southern Section championship games at a luncheon Wednesday that honored the group that will be making history this week.

This is the first year the section is having championship games for girls flag football, and Northview (12-8) is the only San Gabriel Valley team to reach the finals.

The Vikings will take on No. 2 seed Antelope Valley (12-6) in the Division 5 title game Saturday at El Modena High in Orange at 1 p.m.

The theme of the luncheon was “historic” and Vikings head coach Ed Sierra is ready for it.

“It’s great to be here, we worked hard, we earned this,” Sierra said. “It’s going to be a tough game, but we’re playing well and we’ll see what happens.”

Like a lot of players who are playing flag football for the first time, Northview freshman quarterback Alexis Sierra thinks of herself as a basketball player first. But she played some flag football in middle school and showed during the team’s first tryouts that she was more than capable.

Ed Sierra is her father and coach.

“She kind of separated herself during tryouts,” Ed Sierra said of his daughter Alexis. “She was a quick learner and I’m proud of her. She’s really been playing well, just getting better like everyone else. We’ve all kind of been learning together and you can see the improvement of late. We’re not the same team we were at the beginning of the season.”

Alexis Sierra has passed for 5,100 yards and 49 touchdowns.

“I didn’t really think this (flag football) would come this far,” Alexis Sierra said of playing in a championship game. “Not a lot girls get an opportunity to play a boys sport. It’s good to represent being a female.”

After a few games, Alexis started realizing her potential.

“At first it was about just having fun. Then I started getting praised some, and realized I had some type of talent,” Alexis said. “We’re pretty confident (about the title game). We just have to do what we do.”

Antelope Valley beat Covina 26-20 in the semifinals, and Northview split with Covina during Valle Vista League play. Ed Sierra said he was able to pick up some things from the Covina game that might help them prepare.

“We know they’re fast. We’ve talked to Covina, they have a lot of open field players,” Ed Sierra said. “We will do our best to corral them and see what happens.”

Northview snapped a four-game losing streak with a victory over Rowland to finish second in the Valle Vista League, then went on a playoff run.

The Vikings have won three nailbiters in the playoffs, beating Brentwood 19-13 in the first round and No. 4 seed Garden Grove Santiago 19-14 in the second round. They rallied to beat Artesia in the quarterfinals 18-12 in overtime.

They put together their best game in the semifinals, routing Fontana Kaiser 26-6 to advance to the finals.

Junior Jayiene Esteves has 2,200 receiving yards to go with 16 touchdowns and sophomore Ariana Sanchez has 1,200 receiving yards with 11 touchdowns. Sophomore two-way standout Julianne Fernandez also plays a big role, especially in the backfield.

“I’m excited, kind of surprised to be here, but we worked hard,” said Esteves.

She also talked about her chemistry with Alexis Sierra.

“Off the field we’re really close, we have a bond,” Esteves said. “On the field, we just connect really good.”

The Vikings defense has made an impact with momentum-changing interceptions.

Jayleen Sifuentes has a team-leading nine interceptions and Jaeden Powers has six interceptions and Valerie Quintero has four. Sifuentes and Quintero both have returned picks for touchdowns.

“We made some personnel changes defensively and it’s been our defense that’s carrying us;” Ed Sierra said. “Since league started we’re 12-3, which shows all the hard work we’ve done at practices.”