A standout on Sierra’s girls basketball team, Emma Gilmore has always dreamed about playing football under the stadium lights.
That moment will soon come for the senior.
That’s because girls flag football is now sanctioned by the California Interscholastic Federation, and member schools that offer the sport is revving up for the inaugural season.
With only two Valley Oak League teams participating, Sierra and Central Catholic are among the schools to join the Tri-City Athletic League. ABLE Charter and Millennium have also been added to the league, which includes original members St. Mary’s, Lincoln, Tracy, West, Lodi and Tokay.
“They’re all pumped,” Sierra coach Chris Zalunardo. “I think powder puff really drove the interest, and when (CIF) adopted it, it got everyone really excited. Kudos to (athletic director Ezequiel) Ruiz who put in a lot of work to get it going, because I know a lot of schools are not able to offer it this year. It’s 105 degrees and the girls are out here running and hustling. It’s good to see.”
Zalunardo was stunned to see close to 40 show up to the first meeting and said about 30 have consistently attended tryouts and practices. He is looking to cap his roster to about 15-17.
Lathrop has had an even bigger turnout.
“We had 64 show up Day 1,” Spartans coach Randy Baltazar said. He pared his squad down to 21 with the intent of limiting two-way players.
Standard contests pit seven against seven on the field. Teams are required to have a minimum of seven players to start a game, and at least five are required to play.
It is a varsity-only sport, for now, and both coaches believe there should still be enough interest at their schools to field lower-level teams next year.
“We’ve been practicing for 2 ½ weeks now, and the girls are hungry for it,” Baltazar said. “Powder puff really helped with introducing flag football, and we’ve had really good success with it at our school. (Credit) goes to our admin, from the activities director to the athletic director, for getting the word out. The girls have seemed to really gravitate to it.”
Lathrop remains in the Western Athletic Conference for flag football along with Los Banos, Mountain House, Ceres and Pacheco. Escalon, Mariposa and Orestimba arrive from other leagues to make it an even eight for the WAC.
Both Lathrop and Sierra are hosting games at their stadiums. In some cases, they’ll have games following freshman football Thursday nights.
Lathrop’s season kicks off next Monday at 6 p.m. against visiting Millennium. Sierra travels to Tokay (Lodi) on Aug. 29 for its opener.
The SJS will have a postseason, comprising of a minimum of 30 qualifiers split into two divisions.
“Everybody’s in the same boat,” Zalunardo said. “It’s the first year for everyone and you have no idea who is good. It’s like any other sport; work hard, be disciplined and have a goal, then we’ll see where we go.”
Games comprise of two, 20-minute halves with a running clock until the final two minutes of each half. There is a five-minute halftime break. Field dimensions must be at least 50-80 yards long and 30-40 yards wide.
No blocking or moving screens are not allowed. Ball carriers may not jump, spin or stiff arm in attempts to avoid getting de-flagged/tackled, and there are 5-yard no-run zones near the goal lines to eliminate short-yardage, power-running plays that could lead to excessive contact.
It may take some time for coaches and athletes to get the hang of the rules and strategies unique to flag football, but future classes are already getting the jump on it.
“Luckily for us, the City of Lathrop has flag football leagues with different age groups,” Baltazar said. “My son played it last year, and there were actually a good amount of girls playing in that 11-13 age group.
“The sport is blowing up and starting to get more popular now that girls have the opportunity to play football.”
