With the high school fall sports season right around the corner, the dawn of a brand new CIF sport is on the horizon: girls flag football.
Bishop Diego, Dos Pueblos, San Marcos and Santa Barbara High will field 7-on-7 girls flag football teams for the fall season, with the teams playing 10-game schedules beginning on Aug. 17. There will be no playoffs in the first year.
Natlee Hapeman, formerly the Bishop Diego tennis coach, will be the head coach of the Cardinals, while former tackle football coaches Doug Caines (Dos Pueblos), Jason Fowle (San Marcos) and Gabe Renteria (Santa Barbara) will be at the helm for their respective schools.
When it was announced the CIF was including girls flag football as an official sport and staff was hired, the coaches had the task of putting together a team of athletes from their schools.
These athletes came from a variety of sports teams, including soccer, lacrosse, softball, track and field and basketball.
“All of our friends from other sports have been talking about it ever since we found out it was going to be a CIF sport,” Dos Pueblos senior and soccer player Katie Peterson said. “We thought it would be fun to get out here with everybody and have a good time.”
At Santa Barbara High, Renteria believes he has “some of the better athletes on campus” on his roster.
“This team that came together is a bunch of girls from different sports and I that’s amazing,” Renteria said. “[Playing flag football] is going to help them develop in their other sport because their body is moving in different ways.”
Caines concurred as an advocate for multi-sport athletes at the high-school level.
“Being a multi-sport athlete bodes well for all athletes,” he said. “To be able to do more sports and connect with more people is what high school is about.
“It’s super exciting that the sport is taking off as another avenue for young athletes to showcase their skills.”
For San Marcos, Fowle noticed a blend of unique skill sets from different sports and knowledge of football on his roster.
“There was a range of knowledge and abilities before we even started,” he said. “No matter what, though, there is a strong desire to learn and play the game the way we’re teaching them.”
A number of the high school players have their roots in the sport tied to the Friday Night Lights (FNL) Flag Football League, which includes an all-girls league.
One of those players is San Marcos senior Laura Spieler, whose FNL team reached the Southern State championships.
“It’s always been a sport that I wanted to play but I just didn’t have the option past middle school,” Spieler said. “When I heard it was (coming to high school), I knew I had to do it because it’s been my favorite sport since 4th grade.”
Dos Pueblos senior Taylor Hayes also played before high school and decided to return to the sport for her final year.
“I played in 8th grade so I thought it would be really fun to come back for my senior year,” Hayes said. “I like the girls and everyone being there for each other.”
At Santa Barbara, junior Dayzia Mendoza and senior Izzy Garofalo played in the powder puff football game last season and were inspired to join the team. Mendoza, a standout on the basketball team, also played two years of tackle football before high school.
“I was playing powder puff and [assistant coach] Carlina Gonzalez said I would be good at it, so I came out and joined,” Garofalo said. “We all have fun out here and are already friends so it’s a great environment.”
With this new sport comes its own unique set of rules and regulations.
The games will be made up of two 20-minute halves, with a running clock until the final two minutes of each half.
The field width can be anywhere from 30 to 40 yards wide while and 50 to 80 yards long. Each end zone is 10 yards long, and five yards from each end zone and line to gain is a “no-run zone,” where teams can only use pass plays.
On the offensive side, every player on the field is an eligible receiver. Quarterbacks can run the ball only once per series of downs unless the defense blitzes or rushes multiple people.
Any excessive contact will be penalized, as no blocking or moving screens are allowed.
“The rules are new to me too; 7-on-7 (passing league) for boys is similar to this but a little bit different with the width and length of the field,” Renteria said. “It’s new to me and it’s going to be new to all the schools around here.”
Like the other high school sports, flag football figures to stir up the emotions in the cross-town rivalry games. The four local schools will all play each other. The first crosstown game is Bishop Diego at Dos Pueblos on Aug. 22. Santa Barbara plays at San Marcos on Sept. 7
“Everybody is super excited and ready to play against other schools,” Mendoza said.
Spieler echoed this sentiment.
“I’m really excited to play our rival schools,” Spieler said. “I just want to have fun and I’m really excited to meet new people and make the best of my senior year.”
Spieler believes the sport could soon find itself in the national spotlight.
“It’s a huge step in women’s sports because we’ve never really had a women’s football league,” Spieler said. “Now that flag football is being more recognized in high schools and CIF, I think it’s going to become more of a national sport that people pay attention to.”
The first local team to play a live game will be Santa Barbara on Aug. 17 at Thousand Oaks.
