New Hanover County schools open up girls flag football season
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WWAY) — All four New Hanover County schools made their way to Laney Wednesday for the start of high school girls flag football season.
2025 is the second year of the sport in North Carolina and is still not officially sanctioned by the NCHSAA. Ashley claimed the first-ever title last year.
(Photo: Colton Emswiler/WWAY)
Wednesday’s event was a round robin where all four schools played each other. Two games were played simultaneously at Buccaneer stadium.
Major rules include there being seven players a side with no blocking allowed and ball carriers are ruled down where their flag is removed with midfield serving as the first down marker. Each game was played in two 20-minute halves with a running clock.
The scores from round one saw Laney defeat Ashley 12-8 while Hoggard shut out New Hanover 12-0.
In round two, Laney scored in the final minute to knock off Hoggard 12-6 while Ashley handled New Hanover 24-12.
(Photo: Colton Emswiler/WWAY)
Round three saw the Eagles beat the Vikings 13-6 while the Wildcats defeated Laney 1-0 in overtime.
Despite the sport being new, athletes from all sides enjoy flag football and encourage other girls to try it out.
“Since I couldn’t play tackle football, I decided to play flag football, which I actually found a lot of interest in,” Laney quarterback Lucy Devane said. “That made me happy. The biggest bump, I’d say we’d gotten better with our catches and stuff like that.”
“I feel like we’ve improved a lot as a team,” Hoggard wide receiver Abella Exantus said. “Just becoming a family. Defense and offense coming together. Doing what they’re supposed to do on and off the field.”
(Photo: Colton Emswiler/WWAY)
“The sport’s gotten really popular,” Ashley rusher Sienna D’Urso said. “We’ve got a lot of girls coming in with a lot of different talents with other sports that they’ve played. We got a lot of talent and a lot of teamwork. We’re all very close as the school. We got it going for us.”
“Do something big, do something different, do something unique,” New Hanover linebacker Jordyn Blount said. “It’s a great experience for everyone and for anybody that would like to do it, you’ll enjoy it.”
