By John Rohlf, The Message assistant editor
In less than one week, Reitz Memorial High School in Evansville will take the field for their first ever girls flag football game.
Reitz Memorial is one of two diocesan high schools and one of three high schools in the area to put a flag football team on the field this season. For this season, the Indiana High School Athletic Association has listed girls flag football as an emerging sport.
In their inaugural season, the Tigers have 24 players on the roster. Current Reitz Memorial senior Audrey Holt was approached late last school year by Reitz Memorial Athletic Director Chad Dockery about the potential of the Tigers forming a girls flag football team.
“I was like let’s do it,” Holt said. “It’s a very exciting opportunity for us girls who have always wanted to participate in this sport. … It’s just a really unique opportunity for all of us.”
Fellow Reitz Memorial senior Gabriella Unfried said flag football has “been very different than normal football.” Instead of playing 11-on-11, flag football fields seven players on the field on each side of the ball. She also referenced the obvious change with flags versus tackling in football.
“I’ve always looked at the football players and been like oh my gosh, what would it be like to be on that field just to be able to feel the rush of the game and the intensity,” Unfried said. “And I think having the girls play flag football is just another sport that a girl can do anything a guy can do.”
Reitz Memorial alumnus Joey Kiefer was named the program’s first head coach in July. Kiefer previously coached track and had a role in strength and conditioning for the football team.
While they want good results on the field, Kiefer said they are implementing things step-by-step. He said their playbook right now is very simple with plans to continue implementation over the course of the season. He noted while they created their playbook 3.5 weeks ago, many football players have been using the school’s playbook since fourth grade.
One of Kiefer’s assistants is Elizabeth Tappan, an alumnae of Reitz Memorial. She said she has “always had a passion for football” and would have played flag football if it was offered back then.
Tappan said in the first few weeks of practice, the players “have embraced football and just run with it.”
“These girls are absolutely phenomenal,” Tappan said. “You would be shocked at how much these females know about football. We did have to break down some fundamentals, just like anybody else would, kind of starting off. But they listen. They always have come to practice willing to learn, willing to do better, be better and that’s all you can ask for.”
Holt stressed it is “a very new sport” for all of the Reitz Memorial athletes. They did not receive the rulebook until the week of Aug. 18.
“We have never played flag football before except for just messing around either at school recess or gym class,” she said. “So it’s getting use to the rulebook and learning the rulebook. … There’s a lot of changes we need to make to our offense and defense. And also learning the positions because the positions are all new. And just learning the way of the game.”
Reitz Memorial will kick off their season Sept. 3 at Castle High School. Unfried said earlier this week she is really confident and excited for the upcoming games.
“I know a lot of us seniors have talked about just having fun and really getting the experience. And trying to figure out the flow of the game as of now,” Unfried said. “But I know that a lot of us are just really wanting to be more confident in ourselves. And we actually want to win games and hopefully go to state this year.”
Kiefer said they are focusing on patience and discipline through the process. In life, the pathway for Catholicism is discipline and the goal is to please God, Kiefer said.
“The result is to please God,” Kiefer said. “And we can do that through the path of discipline. And so we’re doing that on the flag football field. We’re understanding hard work and this process. And they’re going to be able to take that into the real world and hopefully into their faith as well.”