For the first time in its history, South has its own Girls’ Flag Football team. Adding to the list of spring sports South has to offer, the flag football team is unique because they are sponsored by the Minnesota Vikings. The team’s first game was Sunday, April 27th, starting out the season strong with a win against Southwest!
The team has practice every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with games on Sundays. Josephine McComas, a freshman on the team, talked about beginning every practice by warming up and starting on drills, then working on throwing and routes, and then scrimmaging towards the end of practice. “It’s just really fun having everyone there, and being able to practice. The topic of school doesn’t come up much, it’s just a bunch of people having fun together.”
Because it’s the first year, Coach Mary McComas’ goals are more about having fun than being competitive. “Our goal is always to win, that’s always our hope, but really this season is to get out there, have fun and do our best.” MPS high schools were all encouraged to have a team, though unlike South, some don’t have enough players for a varsity and JV team.
The team came together fast; the schools found out about the addition of the sport in January, Coach McComas applied to be a coach for South’s team in mid-February, and they started practices April 7th. With the MPS middle school teams being such a success in 2022 and beyond, they tried what Coach McComas called a “try-out season” in 2024 for the high schools. “There were four girls teams at the high school level, just trying to see how it would pilot, and it went really well.” The Vikings have partnered with the high schools of Minnesota through this process to bring teams to life all over the state. “They pay for our uniforms, our coaches, all of our equipment and refs, which is all really helpful,” said Coach McComas.
Minnesota isn’t the only state with Flag football teams. As of February 2025, 14 states now have girls flag football as a sport at the high school level. The Minnesota Vikings have called it “the nation’s fastest-growing emerging high school sport.” And with the success and community that has already been built on South’s team, it looks like it will be a lasting one, too.
