Parkland is one of the few schools in the Lehigh Valley area that has a high school girls flag football program.

For the past two seasons the team played as a club sport, but beginning next spring, it will officially be a PIAA sanctioned sport.

Head coach Art George, who has a long background in flag football, got the program underway in the spring of 2025. The interest only grew from that inaugural season, leading to over 40 girls signing up for the 2026 season.

Those numbers allowed for George to field both a junior varsity and varsity team this past spring.

“I think it’s great to see Parkland be one of the first schools in the area to adopt this program,” George said. “I am so grateful for the opportunity to help get it started at Parkland and continue to help it grow. I have been fortunate enough and grateful to be around flag football for many years as a coach and a former local NFL Flag league coordinator for the South Parkland Youth Association.

“I am also an NFL Flag, Flag Football Life, and CFFOA NCAA Women’s certified flag official. To see the growth of girls flag in those organizations, and to give our players as many more opportunities to play, has been very rewarding.”

The closest team in the area is Emmaus, who Parkland played twice this season. The Trojans also faced Palisades, Spring-Ford and North Penn. Other teams that George is hoping to add to their schedule next season include Quakertown, Boyertown, Perkiomen Valley and Souderton.

This year’s varsity team was led by sophomore Zoey Kellogg, who led the team in interceptions, touchdowns, and rushing/receiving yards. She also has the program’s longest rushing touchdown of 67 yards.

Sophomore Marie Oswald led the team in flag pulls and had a program-record 12 flag pulls in one game.

Also leading the varsity was sophomore Julianna Gavirati and junior Sarah Gohman as receivers. Both led the team in receptions, and Gavirati set a team record 12 catches in one game. The senior quarterback-to-receiver connection of Aneri McGalla and Avrie Arnfeldt set a team record with a 70-yard touchdown pass.

A number of freshmen and sophomores made a name for themselves on the junior varsity stage and hope to take the next step forward in 2027.

Freshman Sienna Mobillo led the JV in passing yards, completions and touchdowns. Sophomore Samantha Joine paced the team in rushing yards, receiving yards and touchdowns. Sophomores Gabby Luczejko and Grace Herter led the team in receptions, freshman Claire Brundage had the most interceptions on the team, and the group of freshman Bri Mironov and sophomores Anais Prada, Leila Palmieri, Jade Salazar, and Ophelia Murphy led the defense with the most flag pulls.

“Most players continued to come to all practices each week to work on their skills, and everyone improved as the season went on,” George said. “Our varsity team consisted of many multisport upperclassmen athletes who were new to flag football that didn’t have the same opportunities to play flag football in their middle school or early high school years.”

George’s expectations heading into this past season was to set a foundation that would be the cornerstone of the program for the foreseeable future, while promoting the sport at the high school level.

“My expectation going into this season was to teach the girls the game of flag football, improve as players as the season went on, give them gameplay experiences, and to get them to love playing the game while being competitive and showing good sportsmanship,” George said. “Also to prepare those interested in continuing to play flag football at the college level and getting them the exposure and guidance connecting them to the colleges that have flag football programs.”

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 with the football, but can hand off or pass within a seven-second timeframe 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. The junior varsity team plays two 20-minute halves.