Curtis: That means you would be running the line but if she doesnt hold it in the huddle.

You just run it regular.

Player: Okay.

Curtis: Alright do we know what we're doing?

Alright lets go!

Narr: It's one of the last games during the very first season that Girls Flag football has been an official sport in California.

The California Interscholastic Federation, or CIF, which governs high school sports in California unanimously approved girls flag football in February of 2023.

Interest in the sport was immediate and overwhelming across the state by that fall, just months later, about a quarter of the high schools in California had teams signed up and ready to play.

Will DeBoard is with CIFs Sac- Joaquin Section, which includes 200 high schools from Yuba City to Merced.

He says a new sport typically takes a year to get up and running and sees around 15 schools join in the first season.

Will: We have 70 schools playing girls flag football right away, which is for a new sport.

We've never had that in our history, dating back to the 1940s.

Narr: Here at Woodcreek High School in Roseville.

16 varsity and 13 JV players signed up right away.

Amaya: I thought it was like super cool and I was like, so excited to see like who was going to come out and like, how we would do as a team and like, learn together because like, I've always wanted to play.

And so like getting an opportunity to play is like amazing.

Narr: Teachers at the school were just as excited, including Jenna Taipaleti, who's now co-head coach of the Varsity Girls Flag football team, along with coach Malcolm Thomas Jr.

They see it as a chance to help launch a program that could provide new opportunities for girls in sports.

Jenna: Coach Thomas and I both have young daughters and we wanted to start paving the way for our girls and be a part of history.

Malcom: So the expectations in the beginning was I just want to have fun and let's see how this -- going to be new experience for everyone, all the schools around the section.

And then we started playing and I was like... Man, these girls actually pretty good.

Narr: So good, They were undefeated in their very first season.

A fact that co-team captain Whitney says, sets the tone for this new sport on their turf and allows a school that already loves boys football to create just as much energy and excitement around the girls team.

Whitney: Since it's a new sport, since it's a new idea in California.

There's no basic standard for a culture here.

And so we get to create our own culture however we want.

Narr: She says that culture includes hard work, good sportsmanship and no drama.

And this team takes it seriously.

They show up to practice at 6:45 in the morning, four days a week.

And playing a new sport isn't just about the training.

They're also learning the rules of this new game.

Jenna: They've picked it up super quickly for it being their first time ever playing.

Um, they're really positive.

They're hard working.

Player: Down, set, hike.

Izzy: I learned that it was pretty easy to pick up with all the girls.

They got it pretty quick too.

So with that chemistry, we're doing great.

Whitney: It's really, really cool because we have some just phenomenal athletes and combined with our quarterback.

We're just unstoppable.

Narr: Unstoppable, just like the sport as a whole appears to be.

A total of 11 states in the U.S. now have sanctioned girls flag football, and CIF officials say this is just the beginning.

Will: I think girls flag football is going to have a lot more popularity moving forward.

We've already heard of a lot of schools that don't have it, that they're going to have it next year.

Curtis: It's just like the Super Bowl, is the most watched game alive, right?

Narr: Curtis Grant is offensive coordinator and father of five girls.

Curtis: So, Whitney is my center if were lined up where we at?

Narr: He hopes the overwhelming interest in this new sport will eventually lead to greater opportunities, like someday seeing college scouts sitting in these stands.

Curtis: I think it should -- It's going to be a college sport soon.

So once that happens, man, I'm excited.

Oh...

I'm excited.

Then girls can really work to football to go to college and play football.

And that's going to be game changing for a lot of people.

Narr: While flag football may not yet be an option when these girls are in college, the fact that they have this opportunity to play means a whole lot, not just to them, but to Coach Taipaleti who remembers her own love for football as a girl, as well as the limits that existed.

Jenna: I could throw a football really far, I could kick a football really far, but I didn't have the opportunity, to play girls flag football.

Sometimes I'm coaching on the field and I just stop and I'm like, This is awesome that we have this.

You know?

I think it's well overdue.

We should have had flag football a long time ago, but I think it's just going to grow from here.

Narr: In the meantime, this inaugural team at Woodcreek High is paving the way for those who come after them and setting the stage for a future where girls flag football is just as much a part of high school as the boys team has been.

Player: Woodcreek on three!

[ players in unison ] One, two, three, Woodcreek!