Girl’s Flag Football has grown in popularity all over the U.S. Flagstaff high school started its Girl’s Flag Football program in 2023 giving students the opportunity to start in a new sport. What started as a small program is now continuing to grow into one of FHS’s most successful teams. Flag Football has brought a lot of girls to connect over teamwork and competition.
During the Flagstaff High School 2025 varsity season last year, they ended the season with a 13-3 overall record. The Varsity team finished 3rd in the 4A Grand Canyon Region with a 4-2 region record. Looking at these results the varsity team had a competitive season. This season; however, is looking very promising because defensively the coverage, led by Talia Call, is very good, and they are making the opposing teams quarterback make difficult decisions. The offense does very well, especially quarterback Molly Speer, because Molly gets a feel for the team and gets the ball out fast. The new defensive coach, Coach Lou has been working with the varsity team every day and it has been helping the varsity defense go over coverage and movements to make sure there are no players unmarked that results easy touch down.
A player's perspective can show how Flag Football looks from the field. Every play, mistake, and success contributes towards the game and the season. As a player, you can really see the dynamics of all the practices and drills coming together during the game. Goals that Kayden Payne, a Senior running back, has set for herself this year's season is that, “I want to do good in leading my team and personally I want to get more yards this year”. I think everyone has goals for themself and how they want to play this season. Sometimes during practices, it seems like doing pointless drills over and over again means nothing, but as the weeks go on, the drills get more complicated, and the team becomes more focused and determined.
From the coach’s perspective, these seem to always be way more planned than the players realized. Tyrone Johnson, or as the Flag Football girls know him as Jay, is returning as the head varsity coach. Some things that the varsity coach has already seemed to notice about the team is that the team is a very talented group of girls that want to compete. Talking about his talent, Coach Johnson said, “Defensively in the first few games we’ve shown we can be a stingy defense, that we can be solid across the board”. It seems that the coaches this year for defense, Coach Lou, has made a big difference in both the players and head coaches’ perspective. Coach Johnson has goals in his mind he hopes to achieve this year, “I want to complete at a high level and I want to have a goal of being a state champion, in order to do that we have a lot of improving to do and we have to be consistent in our efforts especially in practice”.
Last year during Flag Football season, more than 68k girls participated in their high school season all over the U.S. At least 40 colleges now offer scholarships and varsity programs for Flag Football. Flag Football has also been announced to be held as a sport in the Olympics for 2028. As Flag Football continues to grow and expand, more schools and athletes are becoming more involved each year.
Flagstaff High School Girl’s Flag Football team continues to grow the program show what the sport can bring to the community and students. From varsity playing at a high level, to newcomers on the JV squad just learning the basic rules and skills of flag football, both teams continue to grow for this new season. Flagstaff High School has a lot to look forward to for this season ahead.
