Girls’ flag football is a rapidly growing sport, spreading throughout the nation and rushing at a rate nothing can intercept! Schools across America are beginning to authorize flag football as an official high school sport, effectively opening up numerous opportunities for girls to compete, earn scholarships, and make history on the field.
The William S. Hart Union School District officially approved girls’ flag football to be offered in select schools in late 2023. West Ranch, Valencia, and Hart High School were the first three schools to roll out their flag football teams last year, but it doesn’t end there!
Their teams were such a success that this 2025-2026 school year, Canyon High School joined the growing list of schools with official flag football teams! Students had the opportunity to try out at the end of last semester, and the 18 who made the team started their season in August of this year.
Canyon’s historic first game was on Aug. 18, 2025, against Saugus, which we won with a score of 20-12. Most notably, quarterback Jodie Noche gave an outstanding performance on the field, throwing for 202 yards and making three touchdowns.
Since then, our team has had a few fumbles, but our girls are not ready to give up! Defensive captain Jennifer Velasquez expressed, “We faced some challenges because some of them have second-year programs, and we’re a first-year program, but we’re fighting, we’re doing our best, and we’re going to show out no matter who we’re playing!”
The girls on the team are passionate and are ready to prove why flag football matters to female athletes. Regardless of the final score, being on the very first girls’ flag football team at Canyon is monumental in and of itself!
Kicker and linebacker Sophie Alvarez noted, “Football is very male-dominated. [Flag football] gives a lot of women opportunities to genuinely start opening up their picture to different sports… I love my coaches. I love my teammates. Everything about it is super positive.”
Since our district’s founding in 1945, girls were never allowed to play a sport like flag football… until now! It’s a chance for girls across the Santa Clarita Valley to not only play a sport they love, but to make a difference in our community!
We’ve got a long way to go before flag football grows to the level of other sports, but introducing it to one city—one school—at a time is a step forward.
Canyon’s girls’ flag football team plays every Monday and Wednesday, and a full schedule for their games can be found here. With a little under two weeks of their season left, we know that our girls are prepared to play their best and show out for Canyon! Make sure to come to their games and support!!
