James Pletz has been coaching flag football, both youth boys and girls, for the better part of a decade. He’s coached dozens of travel club teams in the area, with some of them winning national championships.

Two years ago, after some pondering and consideration, Pletz decided to take on a new challenge when he decided to coach the girls flag football club team at Emmaus High School. Emmaus was a pioneer in the Lehigh Valley in adopting the sport at the high school level.

“We were definitely the first school in the Lehigh Valley to become a varsity girls flag football organization” Pletz said. “We’re still considered a club at this point. Obviously, there’s not that many teams in the area, so we are playing outside of our area…This year was a little more difficult. We played different teams, stronger teams that have been doing it for a while.”

Emmaus, which went 6-0 in its inaugural season in 2025, finished this past spring season with a 2-4 record. When year No.3 gets underway in 2027, Emmaus will do so as a PIAA sanctioned sport at the high school level.

“Going into next season, we’re told that it will officially be a PIAA sport,” Pletz said. “We’ll have a conference and we’ll have more teams with interest. We’ll actually be a part of our own division. The expectations are obviously to learn the game. I want the girls to learn the game, understand flag football, develop and teach them.”

Pletz wasn’t surprised that flag football is set to become an official PIAA sport in 2027. As he saw the amount of interest come up through the youth ranks over the years, it was only a matter of when, rather than if, that would happen.

“It’s such a fast-growing sport,” Pletz said. “It’s all over. It’s in the Olympics and the NFL. It’s everywhere. I’m hoping that next season they come out with it.

“A lot of them like the game and they keep coming back. If they’re choosing girls flag football over track, that is pretty good I think. I also think there are more opportunities when it comes to girls flag football, especially with how fast it is growing.”

Emmaus has both a junior varsity and varsity team at the high school level after just a varsity team in 2025. Much of the underclassmen suit up on the junior varsity team, with those upperclassmen headlining the varsity stage.

There are teams scattered across the Lehigh Valley. Emmaus faced Parkland and Palisades twice this season. But the Hornets often times face teams outside of the area; two of those teams included North Penn and Pennridge this past spring season, which begins in early March.

“Once I made the decision to be head coach, I jumped on it and I’ve been on the ground running ever since,” Pletz said. “I haven’t stopped. I haven’t looked back. Our season ended on the 28th of April, and the 29th we already have offseason workouts. We’re still going.”

Pletz acknowledged that with a small coaching staff, he couldn’t have put together the team and season without the help of assistant coaches Jordan Burrell and Nichole Kememerrer.

The interest is still growing in the sport, and Emmaus has seen a number of returning players come back after that inaugural season. One of those leaders was senior Parker Sadtler, who helped guide a group that lost five starters from last year’s team.

“She was a good staple of the team last year, and she definitely stepped up big time this year,” Pletz said. “We lost a couple of starters from last season to this season, and she was basically the driving force for our offense and defense. She definitely led the team in touchdowns. She brought a lot of energy to the team. She held people accountable.”

Another one of those leaders was Leah Perez, the team’s quarterback who filled in for Azariah Pletz, who was slated to be the starting quarterback and tore her ACL on the second drive of the team’s first game of the season. Perez was named Most Valuable Player for Emmaus.

For those unfamiliar with the sport, it’s a 7-on-7 game played on a 40-yard wide by 100-yard long field, with 10-yard end zones on each end. Every 20 yards is a first down, with teams beginning their series on their own 14-yard line. Teams can pick up a first down three times before scoring (at each 20-yard line and the 40-yard line).

The offense is set up with a quarterback and essentially six playmakers who can run or catch the ball. All players are eligible to possess the ball. On defense, there can be up to four blitzers per play, who must raise their hand before the start of the play. The quarterback cannot run, but can hand off or pass to all other players within the seven-second time frame for each play. Teams can choose to punt on fourth down or go for it, with the opposing team taking over at the spot of the ball should that attempt be unsuccessful.

Varsity teams played four 12-minute quarters with the clock stopping in the final two minutes of each quarter. The junior varsity team plays two 20-minute halves.