Flag football has been offered for decades at Boys & Girls Clubs and YMCA’s throughout Snohomish County. Several high schools in Washington state have also provided flag football as a club activity.
But it wasn’t until April 21, 2025, that the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) Representative Assembly officially sanctioned girls flag football as a high school sport, which took effect Aug. 1. This also marked the first time since 1999 the WIAA sanctioned a new sport.
Read below on how the addition of girls flag football has impacted the four local high school programs.
Cascade (4A)
The Bruins featured 23 players on varsity and another 27 on JV this year. And for head coach Gnom Kouthong, the process of sanctioning girls flag football as a high school sport has been “a long time coming.”
“I want to tip my hat to the athletic directors, the superintendents, those who are involved to bring girls flag football to this district. I think we’re one of the first districts to implement it district-wide. I’ve always been a big believer of it since day one,” he said. “I coached flag for many, many years, and I’ve always wanted to have girls interested and integrated in the co-ed sport. So to see this with the girls team out there, this is a dream come true. … I’ve already been coaching at Cascade as an assistant coach for the football team, so to me to integrate and take over as the flag football coach for the girls, it was a no-brainer.”
While the wins, losses and standings are important, the excitement of having an additional sport has made a difference in some athletes’ high school experiences. And seniors Avery Bjelland and Nalani Douangmany-Turner can attest to that.
“It was huge. We had a whole bunch of girls try out,” Bjelland said. “Everybody was talking about it.”
“I was super excited for this because I used to play, but I didn’t think it was ever going to be a high school sport,” Douangmany-Turner said.
Bjelland and Douangmany-Turner are also just two of several players involved in other sports. Bjelland plays soccer and Douangmany-Turner is in volleyball in the fall, so when nearly two-dozen players of different sports try to compete together, it provides a fun but also challenging learning curve.
“It all works together. All these sports that we do, … all of this adds up to playing,” Bjelland said. “We all mesh good together because we all have different talents that we’re good at, which all mesh well.”
“Especially already playing another sport and then coming into a new sport, the competitiveness just builds into (flag football) as well,” Douangmany-Turner said. “Everyone’s doing something new, so we’re all learning together.”
The Bruins finished the regular season with 7-9 overall and 5-6 league records. And sharing the Wesco table with Jackson (4A), Everett (3A) and Monroe (3A) has been a great start for high school girls flag football in the county.
“Our athletic coordinator, Dani (Mundell), also talks about this, but it’s very helpful to see (flag football) going all over the county and the community and everyone supporting it because then most schools get to do it,” Bjelland said. “It’s such an honor to be able to play the first year of it.”
For Kouthong, he’s pleased to see the improvement of his players from the Dec. 1 jamboree at Everett Memorial Stadium, which kicked off the inaugural season, all the way to the final game of the regular season, which concluded on Jan. 26. His squad will face Juanita in the opening round of the 2026 District 1/2 4A tournament on Jan. 30 in a loser-out scenario.
“It’s the determination to be good, determination to be the best they can be. I got a great group of girls, varsity and JV level, and the key word we try to do is ‘progress,’ the progression of things,” Kouthong said. “It’s the attitude of ‘I can actually do this. I can catch a ball at 10 yards, now I can catch it at 20, now I can catch it at 40. I know the rules of the game.’ And the more they know, the more excited they are to keep learning (and) keep progressing.”
Jackson (4A)
Unlike Cascade, the Timberwolves fielded three teams with 24 players on varsity, 22 on JV and 27 on c-team.
Although Jackson has one of the larger athletic departments in the area, there were many players with different motivations for why they participated in the inaugural season.
“We have a number of players who are on the soccer and softball teams and are participating on club teams while also playing flag,” head coach Ryan Simmons said. “For them, it wasn’t just about keeping in shape for their other sports, it was about trying something different. Some wanted to be on the ground floor of a new opportunity. To be the first to do something that has never been done before was a motivating factor. At least one player spoke of participating in flag football as part of the greater struggle for equality for women. For others, it was out of curiosity.”
After the jamboree, the Timberwolves lost their first four games. But after more time on the field with each other, they bounced back and tallied four-straight wins entering January. On Jan. 7, Jackson narrowly lost 7-0 to Squalicum but then posted its biggest win of the season: 35-7 over Ferndale. It also ended its last game of the regular season with a dominating 28-16 non-conference win over Lindbergh to finish with 6-10 overall and 4-6 league records.
“You have to learn all the rules and stuff, but once you pick it up, then it’s really fun,” freshman Clara Dorgan said. “We’ve gotten a lot more confident with all the plays and more used to the game with practice because we’re really deep in the season. So, everybody’s gotten used to how it feels.”
“Especially because this is my first field sport I’ve ever played, it’s definitely an entirely different atmosphere,” junior Jaelyn Phaysith said. “Getting to know how the game works and trying to adapt to styles of play and athleticism I’ve never trained in before, it’s a new learning experience for sure.”
Also on Jan. 7, the Timberwolves were part of the Seattle Seahawks Community Engagement team’s Girls Flag Takeover at Everett Memorial Stadium, part of the Seahawks’ effort “to continue their support and amplification of high school girls flag football throughout Washington state.”
Seahawks legend Garry Gilliam and mascot Blitz took photos with each respective school. This event also came a week after it was announced that Kasch Park in Everett would be the site of the 2026 Seahawks NFL FLAG Regional Tournament.
“Anytime you can provide more opportunities for students to get involved in school activities is a positive thing. There has long been an interest in flag football at Jackson, as demonstrated by the ‘powder-puff’ tournaments run as class competitions, but there was never an opportunity to focus on it as a sport,” Simmons said. “Growing up in Everett, I played baseball for North Everett Little League, soccer for the Irish Soccer Club and spent two years playing YMCA basketball. No matter what sport I played, I always knew that there was a team I could compete to be on all the way through high school. That isn’t always the case for girls.
“Now, every young girl who has played flag in the county or as part of NFL Flag has a place to continue to play in high school,” he continued. “It’s positive for our building, and it can also lead to more involvement at younger ages similar to what we see in the youth soccer, baseball and softball leagues.”
And although there were 14 seniors across Jackson’s three teams who participated in their one and only season, Phaysith emphasized the importance of players returning next year.
“I hope that all the girls on varsity that are underclassmen and juniors all come back to this sport because it really has been a great experience developing this team,” she said. “I hope that we can do that even more in the postseason and in the upcoming seasons and that we can kind of cultivate that team bond and our skills. I hope that we can have a goal as a team to get better.”
Everett (3A)
The Seagulls formed two teams with varsity rostering 19 players. Information about JV was unavailable.
Although Everett’s schedule displays four-consecutive losses dating back to beginning of the season followed by a win over Cascade in mid-December and another tally of five-straight losses, that didn’t halt the Seagulls. The flock regrouped and won their final five of six games, resulting in the best league record (6-5) of the other three programs entering the postseason, which begins on Jan. 30.
“It was pretty exciting,” said senior Avery Hammer about Everett adding a girls flag football team. “Flyers (were) hung and past (students) were so excited. They were like, ‘Dang, I wish I could have done that.’ And then the turnout at tryouts was amazing. For a brand new sport, everybody was super excited.
“There was a lot of learning. I think one person had played flag ever,” she continued. “So, it was a lot of catching and throwing and seeing who could do what naturally because it was a combination of a bunch of different sports coming together in the offseason and a good way to stay in shape and learn a new sport.”
Junior Hazel Burghdoff concurred stating many students had been waiting for a flag football program since they didn’t want to participate in tackle football.
“A lot of us have seen this as an upcoming sport in schools and professional leagues, and it’s really great that we’ve gotten to have this opportunity to come out,” she said. “We had 60-70 girls show up to the first practice, so I know there’s a lot of excitement.
“Most of our girls are from soccer, and I do track and field and cross country,” Burghdoff continued. “I know that a lot of us during winter, our options are basketball and that sort of thing, but this is another opportunity. I did bowling before this. Personally, I came out to do flag football to stay in shape for track, but I’ve really enjoyed it. One of our girls, she quit wrestling, which was her main sport, to do this.”
Third-seeded Everett battles second-seeded Monroe in the opening round of the 2026 District 1 3A tournament on Jan. 30. And regardless of the result, head coach Brandon Moore is grateful he’s been the one to lead the first season.
“There’s a lot of them out here that are varsity athletes in other sports and have been doing it for a long time, and there are a lot of them out here that have never played a sport since rec league,” he said. “And I think that right now, either you’re not playing in a rec league, or you have to go straight to that select-league stuff (in order to play flag football), so this is a great opportunity for girls to get more opportunities (and for) girls that have been playing a varsity sport before to come in on (an) equal playing field.
“The girls are having a great time, and it’s a really special opportunity for myself,” Moore continued. “We have learned how to play football, which is amazing, and we’re coming up now where we’re going to start winning some football games because we’ve got the pieces to do it, and we need to be playing our best football by Jan. 30. It’s the state play-in tournament, and we’re going to be ready to go.”
Monroe (3A)
Connor Wood was already familiar with the Bearcats fan base when he accepted the head coach position of the girls flag football team. An alumnus of Monroe, Wood returned to his alma mater after serving as offensive lineman at the University of Idaho.
“The community (and) student buy-in is absolutely amazing. Feeling that support from the school and from the town is so cool. Having that one-town, one-team mentality, other sports supporting other sports, it’s absolutely huge for Monroe, so being a coach in it is an absolutely great opportunity,” he said. “I went to Monroe High School. I grew up with this. So, I came in knowing what to expect, and they’ve lived up to it and even gone beyond that with this new sport coming. So, I’m really happy to be a part of it, and I absolutely love this community.”
The Bearcats featured 24 players on varsity and another 19 on JV. And after a mix of wins and losses and concluding the regular season with 7-7 overall and 5-5 league records, Wood couldn’t be more pleased with how his team has performed.
“We’ve only got four (schools) in Wesco, so having this opportunity is really cool. Knowing that our school and community rose up to be one of those first teams, one of those trailblazers of this sport was really cool to get to be a part of, and I was very blessed to be able to come and coach for this team,” he said. “Before the season, the girls were so excited about it, the school was so excited about it. So, it was a very cool feel of knowing that there was that chance for this team to become something, and our numbers have been a huge emulation of that, seeing how many girls love this.”
That same love of the game is shown in junior Chloe Moyes who tallied a pick-six against Squalicum on Jan. 7.
“When I was younger, I played a year of flag football for the Boys & Girls Club. And then growing up, I always played other sports,” she said. “But knowing that it was able to actually become a sport at the high school, it felt surreal because football is known as a guy’s sport. It felt really cool to know that girls are able to play football too.
“We started pretty low, knowing that it was our first year. All of us were very nervous,” she continued. “But, we worked so hard for where we are right now, and all of us are so proud of each other and knowing that we can definitely go so much further now.”
Also on Jan. 7 as part of the Girls Flag Takeover, because the Bearcats won their first game 21-14 against Ferndale, Wood was awarded the “Coach of the Game” football, and the program received a $1,000 donation.
Wood will look to coach his squad past Everett in the opening round of the 2026 District 1 3A tournament on Jan. 30 for a spot in the championship game. Two teams from districts will advance to state in February.
“I see our team as a fantastic first-year team. I’ve loved being able to play against teams who’ve had a team for multiple years,” he said. “I’ve loved seeing us in our first year being so competitive and being able to be a fast-growing team (while) also a young team. … Our freshmen and sophomores are very talented classes, so … the sky’s the limit.”
