‘The girls have been waiting for this.’ Charlotte high school flag football league debuts
Remember to save a place for Parish Lynch and Calla Poulton in the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.
Sometime years from now, Lynch and Poulton can be remembered as the first quarterback-wide receiver combination to score a touchdown in an organized girls’ high school flag football game.
Actually, the Hough High tandem might have been the first to account for a touchdown.
There were three other games taking place at the same time Friday night at Hough High, on opening night of the CMS Girls High School Flag Football League.
Lynch’s 12-yard scoring pass to Poulton appeared to have been the first, so they’ll get credit for now.
Twenty teams of girls’ high school football players — 18 representing Charlotte-Mecklenburg high schools and Charlotte Catholic — are fielding teams in the new league, which has been underwritten by the Carolina Panthers. Hough is fielding two teams this spring.
“A lot of the girls have been waiting for this,” said Raven Dean, coach of Independence High’s team.
Each of the teams played a pair of 30-minute games Friday night, using a 40-yard field. It was an exhibition night, giving teams a chance to enjoy real competition and providing fans a look at what will unfold over the next seven weeks.
During that time, teams will compete on Saturday mornings, trying to reach the league championship game May 15 at Bank of America Stadium.
For now, teams are competing at the club level — not officially recognized as a varsity sport at their respective schools. The eventual goal is bigger, though.
“We would like to get the sport to the varsity level,” said Myers Park coach Austin Smith. “Ideally, that might happen in a few years. But this is the start.”
Five states — Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Nevada — recognize girls’ flag football as an official sport.
The Panthers, who provided $50,000 to buy uniforms and pay other expenses, would like to see that happen.
Riley Fields, director of community relations for the Carolina Panthers, said the funding will help girls participate in a sport that many of them follow closely.
“We are hopeful this effort will also be a catalyst for sanctioning girls high school flag football as a varsity sport in the future,” he said.
The 20 teams were introduced individually Friday night to the crowd of about 500 fans at Hough High. As South Mecklenburg’s team entered the field, two Sabre players did backflips — something you don’t normally see from a boys’ team in introductions.
It’s a seven-on-seven game, and a ball-carrier is “down” when a defender pulls a flag from the offensive player’s uniform.
“We’re playing on a short field tonight, but eventually we’ll use the entire field,” said East Mecklenburg coach Patrick Cappell.
Chambers High players Jaela Parks and Kenya Duplan said they’ve always wanted to play competitive football.
“I like the sport,” Parks said. “I follow it closely. We’re serious about this.”
Duplan added, “This is not ‘Powder Puff’ football. We play hard. We really go after it.”
Teams have developed playbooks, and coaches expect players to know what’s in those books.
“We run specific routes on offense, and we play the corners on defense,” Parks said.
Smith, the Myers Park coach, said interest at his school was very strong.
“We had 60 girls turn out,” he said. “I didn’t expect that. We had to cut to 25. The girls have really been waiting for this.”
Starting next weekend, games will take place from 9 a.m.-noon on Saturdays at turf fields around Mecklenburg County. Those games will consist of 20-minute halves.
There are wrinkles in the rules, and organizers were still trying to answer questions Friday night.
“It’ll take a week or two to get it all worked out,” one official said.
Some of what happened Friday night looked a lot like what happens in boys’ football. For example, neighborhood rivals Butler and Independence hooked up in a particularly close game. Butler won 13-8, with Brandy Cervantes throwing a touchdown pass to Aniyah Wallace and Brooklyn Saunders running for another score.
And Myers Park, a perennial boys’ powerhouse, opened with victories over Charlotte Catholic and East Mecklenburg.
“I’m already hearing from a lot of parents, who are telling me their girls are enjoying the chance to play football,” East Mecklenburg’s Cappell said. “They’re loving it.”
PHOTOS: CMS Flag Football kickoff
This story was originally published March 25, 2022 at 10:42 PM.
