DURHAM — A “celebratory” moment for women’s flag football took place in North Carolina this weekend.
Conference Carolinas, the first NCAA Division I or II conference to sponsor women’s flag football at the varsity level, crowned its first champion at Durham County Memorial Stadium Sunday. After the end of a three-day tournament starting on Friday, No. 1 Wingate defeated No. 2 Ferrum 32-14 in the title game.
“It’s a lot of hard work that went into it,” Wingate coach and Conference Carolinas Coach of the Year Joe Schlager said. “It’s exciting to be able to be in this situation with this team and being able to fight through some of the adversity that we had this year with injuries and different things like that. Being able to adapt and overcome those different things, but it’s really special.”
Freshman quarterback Jhenelle Francis was the engine behind Wingate’s offense as she completed 23 passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns. She also ran in two scores in the third quarter, and she snagged one of the Bulldogs’ three interceptions.
“I think the success came first from our coach,” Francis said. “He’s amazing at play calling. It went all the way through each and every single one of our teammates. “
Freshman Addison Morgan was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. She notched two tackles and an interception in the championship game and finished the weekend with three interceptions in three games.
“I couldn’t do it without everybody’s support and with (Schlager),” Morgan said. “This is only my second year ever playing safety, and (Schlager)’s really helped me and the rest of my team.”
Wingate finished the season 11-2 overall and 8-1 in conference play. Sophomore Evonne Bruestle was named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year after logging 81 tackles, 42 tackles for loss (35 sacks), eight pass deflections and two interceptions (both returned for touchdowns).
The Makings of the Inaugural Season
Conference Carolinas first announced its plans to add women’s flag football as a varsity sport in 2024.
There were 10 programs that fielded teams this spring as nine began playing for the first time. Emmanuel University was the exception as it started play on the varsity level last year and played mostly against NAIA opponents.
“We made that announcement in the summer of (2024),” Conference Carolinas Commissioner Chris Colvin said. “Throughout that next year, our institutions hired those coaches and then really used last academic year, the 24-25 academic year, to recruit, because then, students arrived on campus.”
Coaches and players came from various backgrounds and experiences for the first season.
Schlager came in with five years of coaching experience, having made stops at Midland University and William Woods University.
Garrett Roth, a 24-year-old and one of the youngest coaches in the NCAA, established and coached the girls’ flag football program at Cordova High School in California before making the cross-country drive to coach Ferrum.
Then, there’s Barton coach Jazz Vinson, who balances his services as the running backs coach for the school’s tackle football program.
“A lot of people ask me on campus, like, ‘How do you do it?’” Vinson said. “We literally worked out a 5:40 in the morning in the fall three days a week, and our girls showed up ready to get after it.”
As far as recruiting, Schlager and Roth looked for players from all over the country. For Roth it was about bringing in players who played “high levels of competition in high school,” and Schlager has always looked at “wherever the girls play.” Ferrum and Wingate were two examples of rosters made up mostly of players from states where the sport has been sanctioned for years, like California, Nevada and Colorado. Meanwhile, all but one player on Barton’s roster, including the conference Offensive Player of the Year Sawyer Rigdon, is from North Carolina, which has piloted but not yet sanctioned the sport.
“North Carolina girls are slept on when it comes to flag football,” Vinson said. “They’re multi-sport athletes, you know what I mean? How I went about it was, okay, if they can do really good in these other sports, and we recruit them at home, what happens when they turn their attention 100% to flag football?”
Future of Women’s Flag Football
Women’s flag football at the collegiate level is growing, especially in the Carolinas. After the CIAA completed two sponsored seasons at the club level, the conference will elevate the sport to the varsity level for the 2026-27 academic school year.
At the high school level, the North Carolina High School Athletic Association could possibly sanction the sport for the 2026-27 school year.
“The NCHSAA Board during their spring meetings on May 5 and 6, there will be discussion about girls’ flag and then a vote on May 6,” Carolina Panthers Director of Community Relations Riley Fields said. “If approved, the flag subcommittee has made the recommendation that the season be fall based.”
With more local programs participating in women’s flag football, the Durham Sports Commission, which partnered with Conference Carolinas to host the tournament this year, wants Durham to continue being the sport’s championship hub.
“We want to host multiple flag football championship events here in Durham, especially here at this stadium, at every level,” Durham Sports Commission Executive Director Marcus Manning said. “We’ll definitely be aggressive when it comes to that.”
As the sport makes its Olympic debut at the Los Angeles Games in 2028, there’s also an expectation for more international influence, even in the United States. Not only does Ferrum have players with Olympic aspirations, but the program also just signed Lorena Sanchez who played for the U-17 Spanish National Team. Ferrum’s defensive coordinator Mario Ruiz, who is also a sophomore safety on the Bulldogs’ football team, is from Barcelona and has coached some national teams in Spain, too.
“Really excited to continue opening up that pathway and just boosting our team through bringing in people from all different types of experiences and cultures and programs and seeing what we can do with it,” Roth said.
