Nassau County girls’ flag football is thriving in its second year with the help of the New York Jets and Nike, doubling in size after eight teams participated in the inaugural 2022 campaign won by Bellmore-Merrick.
One of the newbies is Valley Stream. The districtwide program had more nearly 50 girls at clinics and tryouts, coach Brian Kelly said, and is already enjoying plenty of success on the scoreboard with six wins in its first nine games.
“We have kids from all three district high schools and we’re hoping to continue to build,” Kelly said. “We have a handful of multi-sport athletes and those girls have done a nice job juggling everything. There’s only four seniors on the team, but the leadership from those four has been outstanding.”
Valley Stream won its first five games before tasting defeat, knocking off Westbury, Hempstead, Roslyn, Roosevelt and West Hempstead. Its first two losses were by a combined three points and a shutout loss to Plainview followed. However, it rebounded with an impressive 43-0 victory over Long Beach on the turf at Memorial Junior High April 25 behind some big plays from senior Lluvy Lewis, junior quarterback Alyssa Santiago and sophomore Jazlene Narvaez.
“The girls really rallied to get us back on track,” Kelly said.
Lewis scored three touchdowns against Long Beach including a 30-yard reception from Santiago on the final snap of the first half. Santiago had four total touchdowns. Narvaez had a touchdown run and an interception return for a score in the second half.
“Lluvy and Alyssa are soccer teammates at Central and have natural chemistry,” Kelly said. “They both have great speed and field awareness and make things happen on both sides of the ball.”
The elusive Lewis has over 1,000 yards combined receiving (600) and rushing (415) and 13 total touchdowns, including one on defense. “She’s our go-to player,” Kelly said.
Santiago is a dual threat and instantly caught the coaching staff’s eyes at tryouts. “We knew from day one she was going to be the quarterback,” Kelly said. “She’s a gamer who brings a competitive drive and is getting better every day.” Santiago has more than 1,000 yards passing, 15 passing touchdowns, 870 yards rushing and five scores on the ground. On defense, she has 36 tackles and an interception.
Narvaez is an aggressive defender (30 tackles, 3 sacks and a pick-6) who’s becoming a bigger part of the offense. Sophomore Autumn Thomas is a key two-way contributor with three touchdowns, and sophomore Lauren Alvarez and freshman Gabriella Rivera are strong route-runners who’ve scored touchdowns.
Kelly said the offense couldn’t click without center Caroline Scanlon, a senior from South. “She was willing to play anywhere we needed her and is doing a great job with the snaps,” he said.
The defense has put its depth on display, the coach noted, with sophomores Sara Sierzega, Tricia Danso and Trezia Danso providing clutch play.
Despite its newcomer tag, Valley Stream is aiming for the playoffs. Each of the top five finishers in Conferences 1 and 2 get in. It’ll take at least two wins, perhaps three, over the last four games, Kelly said.
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.
