Flag football teams from Long Island get their day in sun at second annual media day at MetLife Stadium

From two-time champion Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK to first-year programs, eleven Long Island flag football teams attended the second annual high school girls flag football media day hosted by the Jets at MetLife Stadium on Monday.

“This is such a cool experience,” POB JFK senior receiver Rachel Ganz said. “I’m so grateful to be here and stand among so many other great teams from New York and New Jersey.”

Two players and the coach from each of the 38 teams that attended were interviewed by SNY anchor and reporter Jeané Coakley and heard from USA National team members Deliah Autry and Isabella Geraci about their high school and professional experiences. Players went to media stations to get pictures and videos taken and designed their own uniforms with one winner chosen at random to receive the uniforms for this season.

The other 10 high schools from Long Island that attended: Bethpage, Glen Cove, Long Beach, Oceanside, Roosevelt, Center Moriches, Half Hollow Hills, Hauppauge, Sachem East and Sayville.

POB JFK, entering its fourth season as a program, has posted back-to-back undefeated seasons. It has won 38 consecutive games, the last a victory over Scarsdale in the inaugural Division I flag football state championship game last June. The Hawks clinched the regional championship after defeating Section IX’s Warwick Valley in 2023.

“Everyone on our team knows it’s an expectation for us to win a championship again this year,” Ganz said. “The pressure comes from us. We know it’s going to be hard because there’s a lot of new teams and teams are going to give us their best game. We are going to have to work harder to get that championship.”

Sayville, also represented at MetLife Thursday, enters the spring with high hopes after clinching the program’s first county and Long Island championship titles last year. The Golden Flashes return New York State Gatorade Player of the Year and quarterback Olivia Moynihan, who said the goal this season is a state championship.

“We had so much fun playing in the state final, I didn’t want to step off that field,” Moynihan said. “We know we can finish it this year and that’s what we’re here to do.”

Roosevelt coach Matthew Gabaud said he recruited many of his players from the cheerleading squad.

“During sideline cheers as we we’re cheering for the football players, I always wanted to go out on the field,” said senior receiver Kaydence Finley. “I wanted to be there. Once flag football started, I said yes, I want to do that.”

The Long Island success at the state level has inspired other schools to start programs. Glen Cove senior Aurora Seery, who said she has looked up to POB JFK’s program, began a petition to bring the sport to her school. She handed out sign-up sheets for a tryout and generated 52 signatures before attending the Board of Education meeting that would require her to express how important the sport is for the community.

“Football has always been a big part of my life and it’s always been boy-dominated,” Seery said. “In Glen Cove, there’s no further opportunities, so I thought it would be great to give girls the opportunity to play football. It’s a big accomplishment for us.”

Glen Cove coach Brett Rubin, an assistant football and boys basketball coach, was all-in from the moment Seery asked him to step in as head coach.

“I was her math teacher, and we would always talk about [POB JFK] and how great of a team they are and how great it would be for Glen Cove to have its own,” Rubin said. “It’s an exciting thing to finally have.”

Oceanside’s Amanda Vitelli also started a petition to create a team, which will be entering its first season this spring after transitioning from an intramural sport.

“As a lonely girl of an all-boys ice hockey team, it’s really nice to see a women’s program built like this” Vitelli said. “It’s not just an organization. It really is a movement. Us as women, we have a lot of potential. We’re hungry for the sport.”