New opportunities for Mississippi Coast girls as flag football history made in Vancleave
The chilly temperatures and preseason setting didn’t stop a large crowd from showing up to an athletics event Thursday in Vancleave.
The Bulldogs hosted a flag football jamboree with fellow Jackson County School District mates St. Martin and East Central. It represented the first Mississippi High School Activities Association-sponsored live-action of the state’s newest sport, one that is rapidly growing in popularity across the Deep South.
“This looked like a football game,” Yellow Jackets head coach Charlie Pavlus told the Sun Herald. “Let’s just be honest, I’ve seen some football games before that had less people than this here tonight. You can’t help but be excited about that.”
Each team played two halves using the official rules provided by the New Orleans Saints, who are helping fund and operate the pilot season.
It was an opportunity to showcase the game and give the athletes a taste of the sport at full speed ahead of next week’s regular season opener in Picayune.
“I am very impressed at the speed of the game,” Vancleave coach Todd Alford said. “I don’t think you realize how fast it is until you’re a part of it. I think our kids learned a lot tonight. I think they got an idea of the speed of the game and I think we saw some really good football for the first time playing football.”
New opportunities
Flag football is growing too big and too quickly at the high school level to be ignored at the collegiate level. That’s why John Melvin University in Pace, Florida — a state with over 400 high schools fielding a flag team — is recruiting for its first official college flag season this fall.
And one of its new assistants made his way up Highway 57 to scout and talk to some of the seniors on the field, according to Pavlus.
“We had a college coach here tonight who’s going to be coaching college this upcoming season and was talking to me about a few senior girls,” Pavlus said. “That’s just crazy. A month ago, we’re not even thinking about this. Now we might have two or three girls that might be able to get a scholarship.
“He talked to a few girls and we have a lot of seniors, so who knows, maybe plans will change. God puts things in front of you that you didn’t even know were there and all of a sudden you make one turn and your life changes forever. So to think that somebody might be able to get a free education doing this, that’s ultimately what you try to provide.”
The opportunity to earn a scholarship is just an extra incentive for a sport that hasn’t needed to recruit athletes with any effort ahead of Mississippi’s inaugural season.
Some schools, like St. Martin and George County, had over 70 girls sign up to try out for a roster that can only hold between 20 and 25 players.
It’s shined a light on a competitive black hole that is quickly being filled.
“All my brothers played football,” St. Martin rusher Lalonnie Duncan said. “I went to all their games, watching and wishing I could be out there. If I was on a boys team, I’d feel like I wouldn’t belong. So having a girls team I feel like I belong and it’s been really fun.”
“I’m a cheerleader and I would always catch myself watching the game, and when I found out I could play the game I was like, ‘sign me up,’” Vancleave rusher Jewels Shaddix added.
Vancleave quarterback Jordyn Raynor has played kicker for her school’s tackle team, but said the addition of flag football provides a much-needed outlet for girls who haven’t been given the opportunity to compete in a sport that dominates the South.
“It’s just really exciting to see this big of an opportunity for girls out here,” Raynor said.
The real thing
The athletes got 40 minutes of game time and used the exhibition setting to get a taste of what a real game feels like.
St. Martin won its half over East Central, 6-0, and then defeated Vancleave, 19-0.
“It was really fun,” St. Martin quarterback Jalyn Nguyen said. “At the beginning I was really nervous, but once we got into the game all I was worried about was having fun and making sure the team was bonding.”
Nguyen threw a pair of touchdown passes, including a 75-yard bomb to Brianne Sanders. The Yellow Jackets forced multiple turnovers and scored via pick-6 by Yvette Nathan.
The most impactful player on the field was St. Martin’s disruptive rusher Duncan, who recorded numerous tackles for loss and forced several bad passes.
Her play has forced all three offenses to reevaluate their approach.
“Before we put a defense on (our offense), I thought we looked really good,” Pavlus said about installing their offense in practice. “And I was like, ‘man, this is gonna be really good.’ We put the defense out there, we put Lelonnie (Duncan) right there, and all of a sudden plans changed. She was so disruptive that we had to leave practice to say, ‘all right, we need to make some adjustments.’
“She made us make the adjustments in practice so that now we’re ready for the game where I thought we looked like a well-oiled machine out there, offensively. (Vancleave and East Central) got a taste of Lelonnie, so now maybe they have to go back and make some adjustments because she’s on you, she’s diving, she’s scraped up, she’s bleeding. She’s a football player.”
East Central showcased its athletes, as well, when it defeated Vancleave 12-0.
Shyleigh Willis proved an elusive slot weapon when she scampered 19 yards for six on a sweep. Receiver Neveah Bounds later made a catch in double coverage, stayed on her feet through a collision and powered into the end zone.
The high-speed action and competitive nature of the game play has those that have experienced it believing in its ability to take off in Mississippi.
“I think it can turn into something amazing,” Bounds said. “I’ve seen girls who didn’t really play sports before flag football came out and now they play. I can see it becoming a really big thing, especially at our school. I’m excited to see where it goes. I’m glad we get to start it as the first people.”
The regular season begins Thursday, March 27 with all 12 schools converging on Picayune for six games operated by the Saints.
Joining the JCSD teams are Picayune, George County, Oak Grove, Brandon, McComb, Meridian, Perry Central, Richland and South Pike.
There is an expectation that the sport will expand to Northern Mississippi in the near future and the Sun Herald has learned multiple schools on the Coast are interested in joining for the second season.
“I think I’m even more excited now than I was before,” Nguyen said. “Being here and officially playing another team, it brings so much joy and happiness and I’m just ready to see what this season has in store for us.”
