Two of the three state’s National Football League franchises will host nearly 100 teams from across the Sunshine State this weekend as part of preseason jamborees for the start of Florida’s 2022 Girls Flag Football Season when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Jacksonville Jaguars host respective events in their respective home cities in advance of the regular season starting on Monday.
TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS WILL KICK THINGS OFF
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will kick things off on Thursday when they host nearly 70 programs from across the state at the 4th Annual Girls Flag Football Preseason Classic, presented by AdventHealth at the University of South Florida.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Girls Flag Football Preseason Classic, which is the largest flag football tournament in the nation will feature teams from 17 counties including 25 from Hillsborough County and 12 from Pinellas County, the two core counties that make up the Tampa Bay region.
With the event, the Buccaneers will host over 1,500 high school athletes including those from the defending state champions in Class 2A champion Lithia Newsome and Class 1A champion Tampa Robinson, both of who hail from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ home market.
On Thursday afternoon after the first round of games that will start at 2:30 p.m. will feature several guest speakers including Buccaneers Co-Owner, Darcie Glazer Kassewitz; AdventHealth Zephyrhills and Dade City CEO, Amanda Maggard; Tampa Bay Sports Commission Vice President of Events, Claire Lessinger; and City of Tampa Director of Parks and Recreation, Sherisha Hills.
Games on Thursday and Friday will be from 2:30 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. while games on Saturday will start at 9:00 a.m. and go all day until 9:00 p.m.
COLLEGE GAMES TO BE FEATURED AT BUCCANEERS PRESEASON CLASSIC
Included in this year’s preseason event will be three collegiate programs from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) with Thomas University, Warner University, and Webber International University competing in two games on Saturday as part of the regular season schedule.
Thomas University located in Thomasville, Ga., is in its first year as a program is led by Chelsea Parmer who previously led Tallahassee Godby and was a dual-sport athlete in flag football and soccer in high school at Tallahassee Leon where she helped lead the Lions to back-to-back flag football state championships in 2007 and 2008.
For Warner University, located in Lake Wales, Fla., is in its second season as a program, is led by first-year head coach Tim Mimbs who for many seasons served as an assistant coach under Josh Saunders at Tampa Robinson where he helped build up the Knights dynasty in flag football that has won the last six out of seven state championships including five straight Class 1A state championship, not including the 2020 season that was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At Webber International, located in Babson Park, Fla., they are also in their second season as a program, led by Jeff Melesky, who also has a connection to the Tampa Robinson program from the 2014-2019 seasons helping the program win five of their six state championships as an assistant coach under Saunders.
The schedule for the two games scheduled on Saturday will feature Webber International vs. Thomas University at 2 p.m. and Warner University vs. Thomas University at 4 p.m.
JAGUARS TO HOST 24 TEAMS ON FRIDAY
The Jacksonville Jaguars, the NFL’s 30th franchise, will host 24 teams on Friday from around the Jacksonville area at the team’s home stadium of TIAA Bank Field, as well at Daily’s Place indoor flex field in downtown Jacksonville.
The Jaguars which are starting out in building a flag football preseason event for teams in North Florida will give local teams a taste of what to expect during the 2022 season.
The event will be broken down into two flights with the first flight starting at 10 a.m. in the morning featuring eight teams while the second flight will take place starting at 3 p.m. in the afternoon featuring 16 teams.
SCHEDULES
Here are the schedules for both the Tampa Buccaneers and Jacksonville Jaguars events
TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
Thursday, Mar. 3
2:30 p.m.
Tampa Robinson vs. St. Petersburg (Field 1)
Tampa Plant vs. Tarpon Springs East Lake (Field 2)
Seffner Armwood vs. Tampa Brooks DeBartolo (Field 3)
Brandon vs. Tampa Sickles (Field 4)
3:45 p.m.
Tampa Robinson vs. Tarpon Springs East Lake (Field 1)
Tampa Plant vs. St. Petersburg (Field 2)
Seffner Armwood vs. Tampa Sickles (Field 3)
Brandon vs. Tampa Brooks DeBartolo (Field 4)
5:15 p.m.
Plant City vs. Tampa Catholic (Field 1)
Tampa Freedom vs. St. Petersburg Lakewood (Field 2)
Shady Hills Classical Prep vs. Largo (Field 3)
Clearwater Countryside vs. Avon Park (Field 4)
6:30 p.m.
Plant City vs. Tampa Freedom (Field 1)
Tampa Leto vs. St. Petersburg Lakewood (Field 2)
Avon Park vs. Largo (Field 3)
Shady Hills Classical Prep vs. Clearwater Countryside (Field 4)
7:45 p.m.
Tampa Leto vs. Tampa Catholic (Field 2)
Friday, Mar. 4
2:30 p.m.
Tampa Alonso vs. Bradenton Southeast (Field 1)
Tampa Carrollwood Day vs. Tarpon Springs (Field 2)
St. Petersburg Hollins vs. Tampa Blake (Field 3)
Lutz Steinbrenner vs. Palmetto (Field 4)
3:45 p.m.
Tampa Alonso vs. Palm Harbor University (Field 1)
Lutz Steinbrenner vs. Bradenton Braden River (Field 2)
St. Petersburg Hollins vs. Tampa Carrollwood Day (Field 3)
Seminole (Seminole) vs. Palmetto (Field 4)
5:15 p.m.
Tampa Hillsborough vs. Bradenton Southeast (Field 1)
Tampa Gaither vs. Gibsonton East Bay (Field 2)
Riverview Sumner vs. Kissimmee Liberty (Field 3)
Tampa Blake vs. Tarpon Springs (Field 4)
6:30 p.m.
Largo Pinellas Park vs. Valrico Bloomingdale (Field 1)
West Palm Beach Forest Hill vs. Braden River (Field 2)
Riverview Sumner vs. Palm Harbor University (Field 3)
Seminole (Seminole) vs. Tampa Middleton (Field 4)
7:45 p.m.
Tampa Hillsborough vs. Valrico Bloomingdale (Field 1)
West Palm Beach Forest Hill vs. Gibsonton East Bay (Field 2)
Tampa Gaither vs. Kissimmee Liberty (Field 3)
Largo Pinellas Park vs. Tampa Middleton (Field 4)
Saturday, Mar. 5
9:00 a.m.|
Belleview vs. Seminole Osceola (Field 1)
Crystal River vs. Dunedin (Field 2)
Lecanto vs. St. Petersburg Gibbs (Field 3)
Lithia Newsome vs. Westlake Seminole Ridge (Field 4)
10:15 a.m.
Belleview vs. Dunedin (Field 1)
Crystal River vs. Seminole Osceola (Field 2)
Windermere vs. St. Petersburg Gibbs (Field 3)
Harmony vs. Plant City Durant (Field 4)
11:30 a.m.
New Smyrna Beach vs. Windermere (Field 1)
Tallahassee Lincoln vs. Westlake Seminole Ridge (Field 2)
Lecanto vs. Tampa Wharton (Field 3)
Lithia Newsome vs. Miami Edison (Field 4)
12:45 p.m.
New Smyrna Beach vs. Plant City Durant (Field 1)
Tallahassee Lincoln vs. Stuart Martin County (Field 2)
Harmony vs. Fort Walton Beach Choctawhatchee (Field 3)
Ruskin Lennard vs. Miami Edison (Field 4)
2:00 p.m.
COLLEGE – Webber International vs. Thomas (Field 1)
Tampa Wharton vs. Bradenton Lakewood Ranch (Field 2)
Ruskin Lennard vs. Fort Walton Beach Choctawhatchee (Field 3)
Miami Central vs. Riverview (Riverview) (Field 4)
4:00 p.m.
COLLEGE – Warner vs. Thomas (Field 1)
Fort Pierce Central vs. Ocala Trinity Catholic (Field 2)
Stuart Martin County vs. Riverview (Riverview) (Field 3)
Miami Central vs. Tallahassee Godby (Field 4)
6:00 p.m.
Sebring vs. Port St. Lucie Centennial (Field 1)
Bradenton Lakewood Ranch vs. Ocala Forest (Field 2)
St. Petersburg Northeast vs. Pace (Field 3)
Ocala Trinity Catholic vs. Orlando Freedom (Field 4)
7:15 p.m.
Sebring vs. Orlando Freedom (Field 1)
Fort Pierce Central vs. Ocala Forest (Field 2)
St. Petersburg Northeast vs. Port St. Lucie Centennial (Field 3)
Tallahassee Godby vs. Pace (Field 4)
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
Full game is scheduled to be announced prior to the event
Friday, Mar. 4
10:00 a.m. – Morning Flight
Green Cove Springs Clay
Jacksonville Ed White
Fleming Island
Keystone Heights
Orange Park
Jacksonville Wolfson
Yulee
Jacksonville Sandalwood
3:00 p.m. – Afternoon Flight
Baldwin
Jacksonville Englewood
Jacksonville First Coast
Jacksonville Mandarin
Middleburg
Orange Park Oakleaf
Palatka
Jacksonville Paxon
St. Augustine
Jacksonville Riverside
Jacksonville Andrew Jackson
Jacksonville Raines
Jacksonville Ribault
Jacksonville Stanton
Orange Park Ridgeview
Jacksonville Atlantic Coast
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.
