First champion crowned, but it’s just the beginning for girls flag football
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RIGBY – The area’s first girls high school flag football season concluded Monday night as the Rigby Broncos claimed the inaugural league title with a 33-10 win over the Bonneville Dolphins.
The Broncos’ offense ran through its playbook with speedy double reverses, hook-and-ladder trickery, and enough weapons to build an early lead. The Dolphins kept the game within reach in the second half with a couple of interceptions.
Afterword, players lined up for postgame awards and handshakes, and with that, the league’s historic season was a wrap.
A week from now, or even six months to a year, the final score of the championship game won’t really matter. What will matter is that the players, coaches and officials who participated on Monday night and throughout the season helped launch a new sport in eastern Idaho.
The hope is to grow girls flag football within the region and the state and eventually make it big enough that the sport will be sanctioned by the Idaho High School Activities Association as an official varsity sport, league director Andrea Boudrero said earlier this season.
Judging by the response, high school girls flag football in east Idaho has already joined the national trend as one of the fastest-growing sports in the country.
Boudrero said that a spring season will be added in 2025 and schools expected to participate in the flag football league has doubled to around 15.
So far.
“I think this is a good opportunity for girls in this area and I’ll definitely play next year,” said the Broncos Lauren Burnside, who was named the game’s MVP after dominating both sides of the ball.
Bonneville coach Justin Williams had two nieces playing on the team and decided he would give coaching in the new league a try.
“I think Powder Puff (football) gets girls excited, but to be able to play in a league rather than one game … I don’t think they’ve had that opportunity before,” Williams said.
Williams noted that one of his nieces is a senior and was disappointed that she won’t be able to continue as the league grows.
Both coaches talked about the development of their teams after the first couple of week of the season. Most of the players had not played flag football so the implementation of strategy and game planning was whittled down to the very basics and fundamentals.
“Everybody was on different skill levels,” said Burnside, who, who along with teammate Sienna Clifford, started playing youth flag football since as early as second grade.
The Broncos lost their first two games of the season before finally turning things around.
“They came on strong in the second half of the season,” said Rigby coach Kirk Burnside, who had previously coached boys flag football.
“You definitely saw the progression and the passion for the sport,” said Bonneville’s Williams. “I think at the beginning a lot of the girls did it just for fun, but by the end of it they actually cared about it and were a lot more invested. It made them excited to play the sport.”
Regular-season games were played at Harwood Elementary in Rigby. Monday’s semifinals and final were played at Rigby High under the lights.
Awards were presented after the game: Offensive Player of the Game was Bailey Barber of Rigby. The Defensive Player of the Game was Avery Schofield of Rigby, and the Pave the Way award – given to a player who paves the way for girls flag football – was given to Bonneville’s Rayna McRae.