In September 2025, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) announced girls flag football to be a sanctioned high school sport. McDowell wasted no time organizing a team of its own making girls flag football the 14th sport offered to female athletes by McDowell, balancing the number of boys sports offered.
Starting from the ground up, the athletes have put focus on the fundamentals of the sport, not only from an athletic standpoint, but from a community perspective, as well. As the sport is growing in popularity among McDowell students, it is also growing beyond the local setting. Nationally, 17 states have sanctioned the game as a varsity sport, with many others striving to follow in their footsteps.
This non-contact alternative to tackle American Football has even gotten attention from the National Football League, who have organized and funded a number of leagues in various states. This surge in flag football has even taken to the global stage, and will make its debut appearance for both genders in the Olympics at the 2028 Los Angeles games.
Despite practices only starting about a month ago and the fact that coach Joseph Gabbard said it “came out of nowhere,” the team consists of 45 players from a variety of athletic backgrounds.
While some players have no team sports experience, others step onto the field with basketball, track, soccer and even gymnastics under their flagged belts. The team has become a melting pot of athletes.
“A lot of girls are playing other sports and want to use this as an avenue to keep playing and get better for their sports,” Gabbard said.
Junior Jacqueline Rash said she joined the team “to stay in shape for other sports,” like soccer.
Gabbard described his two young daughters as his motivator for coaching, hoping to get them into sports. With almost 20 years of experience in coaching traditional football, he looks forward to his first year coaching a girl’s high school team.
“I think expanding football and having girls play is pretty cool,” he said.
Since the sport is new to most of the team, the girls are focusing on the fundamentals of the game at practices.
“Our goal for this year was just to try and start the program and get girls interested,” Gabbard said. He also will work on boosting team morale and overall camaraderie. Though he also describes a more immediate goal is to find a quarterback.
With such a large team and only seven players on the field at any one time, everyone is trying to find their place on the team. Rash shared how she is finding her footing on the team.
“My goals are to get as much playing time as possible and prove that I will be a valuable member to the team,” she said. It’s not just her who is feeling the pressure though, she explains that with “this being the first year, everyone wants to prove themselves.”
Gabbard praised the girls’ ability to pick skills up quickly, and said, “The outlook looks good for next year due to the underclassmen.”
Still so early into the season, Rash explained how the team has “to be able to laugh together if we mess up, since we’re all learning something new.”
From unique handshakes with each other, to mandatory touchdown dances, it is clear the importance of forming the team bond.
To succeed on the field, the team must also succeed as a team. “It’s one of the best team sports there is,” Gabbard said, explaining how the sport helps with teamwork, responsibility and being able to rely on and work with others.
“If we get better every day, that’s success to me. It does not mean winning a game or scoring touchdowns. It just means every day is better than before, that is success.” Even early into the season, it is hard to not see the promising future these pioneers of flag football are building for the sport at McDowell.
While there are no official games scheduled yet, competition should begin in April.
