As the athletes from the Stephen T. Badin High School girls flag football team gathered around one another, they were handed the Girls High School Flag Football Championship trophy.
They hoisted the trophy above their heads in celebration, with parents and fans cheering for the athletes and their accomplishment of claiming the inaugural state championship title in their first season as a team.
"It meant everything," Badin quarterback Ashley Pate said. "I mean as a team, we were kind of doubting ourselves because we are a brand-new team. And not a lot of us had played together in previous sports. So, to get here was just an amazing opportunity for us."
At the Ohio Girls High School Flag Football State Championship, the top four teams from both the Browns and the Bengals' divisions competed in the inaugural single-elimination tournament. For the Browns, Willoughby South, Edgewood, Berkshire and Massillon all moved on from the Northeast Ohio Girls High School Flag Football Championship Tournament – with Willoughby South winning the championship – to compete in the state championship tournament. For the Bengals, Shroder, Seton, Badin and Mount Notre Dame made the championship tournament.
The championship game proved to be a true battle of Ohio, as Willoughby South faced off against Badin. After a hard-fought game, Badin was crowned as the inaugural state champions.
The Browns girls high school flag football program, presented by Gatorade and in association with Bridgestone, is designed to create opportunities for female student-athletes to participate in one of the nation's fastest-growing sports. Launched in 2021 in partnership with Northeast Ohio Flag Football, the Browns helped establish the first Girls High School Flag Football division in Ohio. Since then, the initiative has grown significantly, aiming to increase visibility, access and equity in high school sports.
From spring 2024 to spring 2025 the girls flag football program grew from 51 teams to 88, with total 100 percent growth from 30 to 60 high schools from 2024 to 2025.
The Browns are continuing their efforts to obtain official recognition of girls flag football as a sanctioned varsity sport by the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA). By doing so, they would provide a sustainable pathway for female athletes to compete at the highest level within their schools, further solidifying the sport's legitimacy and inspiring the next generation of players.
"I think having it be a sanctioned sport just helps validate it," Willoughby South head coach Matt McCue said. "I think flag with the amount of popularity and the growth it's had over the last four or five years, there's enough interest there that it should be a sanctioned sport. And I also think it will just give the girls a sense that they're kind of on the same plane as football. It's flag football, but it's offering that opportunity to female athletes that their male counterparts have in the fall. So, I know some of the other states have already sanctioned it, so, hopefully Ohio will kind of move forward and sort of be ahead of the curve."
Yet, the efforts to sanction girls high school flag football in Ohio stem farther than just Northeast Ohio. In 2024, the Bengals launched their pilot season for girls high school flag in Cincinnati.
Six local high schools participated in the pilot season and a championship tournament was held on-site at the Kettering Practice Fields in May 2024. Their program expanded in the second season, as 20 local high schools and 350 student-athletes competed in the spring 2025 regular season.
"The teams down in Cincinnati are absolutely phenomenal. So, we were battling every game down there, which prepared us," Badin assistant coach Christy Even said. "With the Browns and Bengals, it's been a phenomenal experience. From the equipment to the PR these girls don't get that type of thing every day, and they treat them like the athletes that they are. And for female sports that means a lot."
The sport continues to gain momentum as both men's and women's teams will be featured in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles for the first time in the competition's history. Its selection to be added to the Olympic Games came as the result of a thorough process and analysis based on evaluation criteria – including gender equality. With its inclusion, it opens the door for more athletes to turn their love of the game into a collegiate and Olympic career.
Around the country, there are 15 states that have girls flag football as a sanctioned sport. During the 2023-24 season, 42,955 girls participated in flag football in high schools nationwide – a 105 percent increase from the previous year. The Browns and Bengals are working towards adding Ohio to that list of states in which it's a sanctioned sport.
"I think that's the end game of all of this," Berkshire head coach Joshua DeWeese said. "It always has been since the beginning. Giving girls the opportunity to compete in this sport, which is the fastest growing sport across the country, and treated on the same level as any other sport, is really all we're asking. I think that it needs to be sanctioned. […] These girls put in the time, they do everything else just like every other sport, and the things that the girls are getting from the game, it means everything for them to sanction the sport."
Interested in starting a girls flag football team at your high school? Complete this questionnaire HERE so the Browns can share more information and outline next steps.
