Girls flag football taking off in the Central Valley. ‘We’re all making history’

The chill in the air, the electric atmosphere in the high school stadium; it definitely felt like playoff football season.

There were large inflatable mascots, players wearing decorative eye black, student sections dressed in black, and players celebrating with elaborate handshakes on the sideline.

The players and coaches seemed to be having a blast.

The lively scene at the Merced vs. Atwater playoff game last month wasn’t available to girls or any high school student body in the Central Valley last year. The excitement surrounding the first year of the sport hasn’t died down. Girls flag football in the Central Valley appears to have staying power.

Atwater and Merced participated in the Division I Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs. Merced advanced to the semifinals before falling 20-14 to Woodcreek, which lost in the finals 14-12 to Delo Oro in Sacramento, the section’s first Division I champion.

Meanwhile, in Stanislaus County, Escalon and Ceres made deep runs in the playoffs. Escalon lost to St. Mary’s of Stockton 12-6 in the Division II semifinals. Ceres lost to Christian Brothers 12-6 in the Division I semifinals. Christian Brothers went on to win the section Division II championship.

Escalon coach Steven Largent said his players made huge strides from the start of the season when they had to meet to explain basic football terminology like snaps, down-and-distance and laterals.

“I thought the first year was fantastic,” he said. “You could definitely see the growth from when we first met in late July and early August to where we ended up at the end of the season. Everyone got better.”

The high school sport was officially sanctioned by the CIF State Federated Council in February. In all, there were 70 schools playing girls flag football this first season in the Sac-Joaquin Section, which stretches from Sacramento to Solano and Merced counties. That’s the second highest number only behind the 160 schools playing in the Southern Section. The North Coast Section, Los Angeles City Section and Central Coast Section fielded a range of 35 to 57 teams.

School participation was uneven across the Valley. But Central Section commissioner Ryan Tos said he suspects not all high schools had enough time to gear up for the inaugural season. The Central section had only one school field a team.

Sac-Joaquin Section assistant commissioner Will DeBoard agreed that some schools felt there wasn’t enough time to get teams up and running.

“I think the excitement has been there pretty much across the board from all the schools who have offered it,” he said. “The fact that girls flag football officially became a CIF sport in February, schools really had to hustle to be ready to play this year. To have 70 schools this year is amazing.”

After seeing the success of the inaugural season, more high schools are expected to field teams next year in Modesto and Turlock and throughout the Central Valley, high school sports officials said.

The seven Stanislaus County schools that did field teams this year included Patterson, Central Valley, Central Catholic, Ceres, Escalon and Orestimba.

Merced County teams jumped at the opportunity to field the new sport for girls.

“We have a very proactive superintendent (Alan Peterson),” said Merced High athletic director Paul Hogue. “He basically said this is coming, let’s do whatever we need to do to make it happen.”

Future in Central Section?

On the other side of the spectrum is the Central Section, which stretches from Bakersfield to Santa Barbara to Fresno. Lompoc High School is the only school in the Central Section that decided to field a girls flag football team this year.

“It’s just a guess, but I think we had some people curious to see how it would go,” said Central Section commissioner Ryan Tos. “I don’t think people were opposed or didn’t mind letting others deal with the first-year growing pains.”

Tos said he has heard of schools in Fresno, Visalia and Bakersfield interested in possibly playing next year but the section office hasn’t received any firm commitments from any schools.

“I never know why some districts pick up sports and some don’t,” he said. “We’ll find out which district and schools step up and want to fund it. From what I understand, it’s not an expensive sport but coaching stipends and transportation costs add up, but I do see an avenue of growth for the sport in the Central Section.”

“It’s 100% up to the schools and districts whether to offer the sport or not,” Tos added.

The popularity of girls flag football as a sport appears to only be headed on an upward trend, especially after the International Olympic Committee recently announced flag football will be part of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

NFL stars could participate in the Olympics. Two-time Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs has expressed interest in playing.

The NCAA has yet to adopt women’s flag football as a sport, but it is being played at the NAIA level in college. Many larger universities offer high-level club teams.

Largent says he hopes colleges will look to add the sport.

“I think flag football will only explode and continue to grow,” Largent said. “Hopefully community colleges and other colleges will adapt and help it grow. Programs like Merced, us and Colfax in the mountains are doing it right. We’ve had successful boys football programs and now girls are getting the opportunity to enjoy the same experience.”

DeBoard says he hasn’t seen a new sport expand right away like girls flag football in recent history. Boys volleyball didn’t have this type of debut, but it has grown over time.

“I think (girls flag football) been a huge success,” DeBoard said. “We started beach volleyball as a sport and we may have 10 or 11 teams still playing a couple years later. We’ve offered lacrosse for years and we probably have 30 teams in the section. I don’t think we’ve ever had a new sport start like this.”

DeBoard says the Sac-Joaquin Section has already heard from districts in Modesto, Turlock, Elk Grove and the Sacramento area that they plan to add girls flag football next year.

More teams coming

DeBoard expects the section to have over 100 teams competing in 2024.

Athletic directors in the Central California Athletic League, which is comprised of Modesto City Schools Downey, Enochs, Gregori and Modesto and Turlock and Pitman voted on a 15-game league schedule next year and that was approved by the league principals.

“It has been exciting to watch the schools that got off this year,” said CCAL commissioner Ed Felt. “The games have been fun to watch, they’re fast paced, very spirited. They’ve brought good attention from the media and in crowds. I think it’s a great sport to add to offer our girls, one more opportunity to be involved in some top athletic programs.”

Felt says league member schools felt it was best to wait a year before offering flag football.

“The principals and athletic directors felt that instead of rushing into something, we needed to have some time to do it right,” Felt said. “We waited this year so that we can get some more exposure starting with the powder puff games and also to recruit and train coaches and I think that’s coming along well.”

One of the benefits of adding flag football is it gives girls another opportunity to compete in a sport. While the number of girls sports and boys sports are pretty even, the number of boys participating in athletics is more because of the number of boys involved in tackle football programs.

“According to the 2022-23 participation census, 689 girls were playing flag football,” Brutlag said. “We anticipate this number to increase greatly with it officially becoming sanctioned for this school year.”

The athletes are grateful for the opportunity to play.

“It’s been very exciting,” said Merced freshman quarterback Antonia Lejarde. “I knew I wanted to be a part of it and now I’m starting at quarterback as a freshman. We’re all making history.”