by Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

The increasingly popular sport of girls flag football has finally made its way to Claremont High School, and players and coaches could not be more thrilled.

CHS will compete against Glendora, Ayala and Bonita high schools in the Palomares League. The Wolfpack opens its season at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 10 at Ayala. The following day is CHS’ home opener, a 6:30 p.m. nonleague test with Northview.

Underneath a sweltering sun on Wednesday, about 24 girls practiced routes, defense, and trick plays on the CHS football turf. Though the team spent August working on conditioning and training, this week marked its first official practices with a 25-player varsity roster, a mix of freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors.

(L-R) Claremont High center Raya Robertson snaps the ball at Wednesday’s flag football practice, and head coach Gentry Robertson, running back Ava Coronado, and assistant coach Kelsey Robertson, look on as quarterback Scarlette Sanders waits for it. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

Many of the players have in years past participated in the school’s annual powderpuff flag football contest between junior and senior girls. Seventeen-year-old Paige Morales, a senior linebacker, credits her powderpuff experience with sparking her interest in the sport.

“It was just a nice exposure overall to what football kind of had to offer and what I could do with it,” Paige said.

For Sadie Hannan, a 17-year-old quarterback, her football background consists of playing catch with her father and drafting National Football League players for her fantasy team. Andrea Fletcher, also 17, plays wide receiver and center and said she attended summer football camps in preparation for this year’s season. Both were among the many students requesting flag football come to CHS over the past year.

“It’s the first year ever so that’s pretty special,” Sadie said. “I played basketball before and I always looked up to the seniors, so I kind of hope we can all help get this program started.” “As our kind of slogan says, we’re making history,” Paige added. “Especially being the first graduating class with this super amazing team and kind of setting the stage for it. It’s such an honor.”

The girls have high hopes for the program’s debut season, aiming to win the Palomares League and earn a spot in the California Interscholastic Federation’s Southern Section playoffs.

The Wolfpack is led by head coach Gentry Robertson with assistance from his wife Kelsey Robertson. Gentry Robertson is also the varsity football team’s linebacker coach.

Gentry Robertson views the program as refreshing in a time where women’s sports such as flag football and basketball have been making strides.

“It’s such a special program to be a part of and such a special time to be a part of it,” Kelsey Robertson said. “I graduated from Claremont High 20 something years ago, so it’s just like so surreal. We’ve wanted flag football since I was here 20 years ago. Women have been wanting to play football for as long as we can remember, so now we’re like, we’re here, we’re doing it, and we’re going to let you know that we should have been doing this 20 years ago.”

Claremont High School varsity girls flag football coach Gentry Robertson instructs senior linebacker Paige Morales at Wednesday’s practice. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

Coaches and players agree a great sport been added at CHS, and gender barriers have been broken as well.

“I think it’s so revolutionary that our school is finally adding some women representation in such an underrepresented kind of field,” Paige said. “I know women are usually kind of not seen as equal in the sports realm, so having this new program and really building it and showing that we are more than capable to make it far would definitely continue to push the barriers, continue to show that women are more than capable of doing anything that men can, and even do it better.”

Community support has thus far been strong. In just 48 hours this week, parents came together to form a booster club.

“Everything has been happening so fast,” Kelsey Robertson said. “We are actually on a football schedule, so we should have been starting [practice] in June. They didn’t think we were going to be able to pull off this season, but both of us were like, absolutely not: we’ll do whatever it takes to get these girls on this field.”

Girls flag football became a CIF-SS sanctioned fall sport in February 2023 when the California Interscholastic Federation’s State Federated Council voted to add it to a list of state approved high school sports. The CIF-SS has about 270 registered teams and will offer championships across five divisions.

Junior Claremont High School quarterback Scarlette Sanders during Wednesday’s practice. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

The flagged game’s rules differ heavily from its tackle counterpart. The game is a seven-on-seven format and consists of two 24-minute halves. There are stoppages for timeouts, penalties, and each half’s two-minute warning. Teams must snap the ball within a 25-second play clock. The game ball is size six or “junior sized.” The field is 80 yards long, 40 yards wide, and has two 10-yard endzones. Coaches get two timeouts per half, but can only roll over one timeout into the second half for a potential total of three.

For teams to get a new set of four downs, they must reach the “line to gain” at the 20-, 40-, and 20-yard lines. There are no kickoffs or punts. Teams take possession of the ball on their 20-yard line after a “declared” punt, a score, or at the start of a half.

An official rule book is at cifss.org.

The Webb Schools’ athletic director Steven Wishek said girls flag football would not be offered this fall, but the school would reassess the issue soon.