Although no Section III schools field girls flag football teams, Central New York will play a role in the sport moving forward.
Cortland and Homer high schools were picked as the host sites for the inaugural state championships beginning in 2024 during Wednesday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association executive committee meeting.
The schools will host the championships until at least 2026.
“We’ve been a host site for other (state) tournaments and other sports,” Homer athletic director Todd Lisi said. “And when I was asked about hosting (the flag football tournament), I said, ‘Absolutely. Anything we can do to help the state out and help promote the sport.’”
Last winter, the NYSPHSAA voted to establish girls flag football as an emerging sport for the 2023 spring season. Last spring, 48 schools across six sections participated in flag football with no state championships. Again next spring, there will not be a state championships.
Thanks to the help of the New York Giants, New York Jets and Buffalo Bills, the sport has grown in popularity downstate and in Western New York, but the Central New York section still has no teams participating.
Section III officials did not return a call seeking an update on the status of girls flag football in the region.
Travis Burnett
A pioneer in the flag football community, Travis helped co-found the Flag Football World Championship Tour, FlagSpin and USA Flag. Featuring 15+ years of content creation for the sport of flag football, creating and managing the largest flag football tournaments on the planet, coaching experience at the youth and adult level as well as an active player with National and World Championship level experience.
