Area schools to add girls flag football

In July, the Ohio High School Athletic Association announced the sanctioning of girls flag football beginning in spring 2026. The decision came after the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals hosted a state championship at Massillon's Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, which was won by Hamilton Badin from the Bengals Bracket over Willoughby South from the Browns Bracket. Since the announcement, schools around the state have been looking into the possibility of forming teams to compete in the initial OHSAA tournament. That includes Medina County. Five county schools — Black River, Brunswick, Cloverleaf, Highland and Medina — will have girls flag football this season. Per school policy, all will begin as a club sport, meaning the team would be responsible for the initial uniforms and costs of running the program until it is taken on by the school. The difference between most club sports and girls flag football, however, is that the Browns and NFL will provide many of the things teams will need, such as uniforms and equipment, to get up and running. "The beauty of it all is the Browns provide us with everything we need for this first season," Cloverleaf athletic director Craig Walkup said. "They'll do all the scheduling, provide us with the uniforms, all the equipment that we need. Basically, all we need to do is get the team put together, get our coaching staff put together and move forward." County schools are taking different approaches to the upcoming season. Highland had a club team last season and played in the tournament hosted by the Browns. The Hornets will continue this season under the OSHAA. "Our girls that played rugby were very interested in playing flag football, so I believe we had six girls last year, and that's exactly what we have this year," Highland athletic director Jon Bailey said. "They're hoping to grow those numbers, but we're currently a club sport. They're playing the schedule that the Cleveland Browns have put out, and basically (the OHSAA) has sanctioned an end-of-the-year tournament." Cloverleaf presented the sport to the school board earlier this month. The board will officially vote on it in December, with the approval being merely a formality, according to Walkup. "Because it wasn't on the agenda, they didn't vote to approve it," Walkup said. "But they gave me the directive to go ahead and proceed with the process, and they will approve it at the December meeting." It was an easy decision for the Colts, as their girls have already had exposure to flag football in the youth program. "We've had interest because in the last few years through our Cloverleaf youth football, we've had girls flag football," Walkup said. "Our girls here were interested in doing the OHSAA part, and they cannot do that unless the school endorses it, the school board accepts it and then the athletic directors have to write a letter stating that it's been approved." Once approved, flag football will be a club sport for three years and move to a varsity sport, something Cloverleaf is confident will happen. It is the same process the Colts follow for any new sport, though the three-year window is one year longer than most other schools. "If there's a new sport, you gauge the interest level and then you start it out as a club, which we'll do for three years," Walkup said. "It becomes an official sport if it survives the three years, and it's going to survive, because it's the fastest-growing activity in high school sports across the country right now." Medina also will be exploring flag football as a club sport first, as is the norm with any new sport. "They don't just start as a varsity sport," Medina athletic director Todd Hodkey said. "They have to go through an exploratory period to make sure there's enough interest. We did that with lacrosse and we've done that with bowling and boys volleyball." If approved, girls flag football would join rugby as the only club sport currently at Medina, with all other sports moving onto the varsity level. Black River is also in the exploratory process, according to athletic director Rob Clarico, who said assistant football coach Kyle Jenkin has expressed interest in coaching the team. "We went through the process of putting in that application with the Browns, or the NFL, so that we can get the ball rolling," Clarico said. "Going from there, we just have to generate the interest and see how many girls are interested in playing this spring." The plan at Brunswick is still fluid, but the Blue Devils anticipate offering the sport this spring. Brunswick held an intramural tournament in October to gauge interest, which ended up being high. Currently, Buckeye is not planning on offering flag football, but that could change if student interest increases. "Everything we offer is based upon student interest," Buckeye athletic director John Myers said in a text message. "If we have enough student interest, we will." Wadsworth will not be offering girls flag football at this time, nor will Medina Christian. Contact Ryan Isley at sports@medina-gazette.com.