Why coaches, players think girls flag football will be the next TSSAA sanctioned sport

Ravenwood coach Will Hester saw sophomore linebacker Macie Fowler coming after him with a water bucket and he bolted. 

Hester was all for celebrating Ravenwood's 42-0 win Saturday over Page in the championship game of the inaugural Williamson County girls flag football league, but he wanted to do it dry.

Fowler missed for the most past, only getting one of Hester's shoes wet, and a few minutes later Hester was holding the championship trophy at Nissan Stadium  before passing it off to his players. 

The moment was culmination of what Hester and every player and coach in the nine-team league hopes paves the way in making girls flag football the next TSSAA sanctioned sport. 

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"Any county that eventually wants to play this sport, I want to tell them to just go for it," Ravenwood senior quarterback and Cincinnati signee Sarah Kate Rath said. "There are girls here that have never played a sport before and started in our first game. Everyone learns and it's a lot of fun.

"It's a really experience to get to do this and get to play here at Nissan Stadium. They should take advantage of it because not many places get this sort of opportunity."

With the NFL looking to expand the sport, Williamson County was the pilot program for it in Tennessee. The Tennessee Titans backed the new league with hopes of seeing it grow and develop into a state-sanctioned sport like it is in Alabama and Georgia.

A four-week season that featured nine-regular season games culminated Saturday with every player walking onto the field at Nissan Stadium and getting the chance to see themselves on the video board at some point during the day. 

In a league that rarely saw blowouts throughout the regular season, that trend continued during the tournament with five of the eight games being decided by 10 points or less.

"I said it from the very beginning when they brought it to us that it would be sanctioned one day," Page coach Charles Rathbone said. "It's so much, it's reinvigorating, it's exciting and the girls love it. I think Rutherford County and Metro Nashville are wanting to get in on it and I don't blame them.

"It's basketball on turf and it's so much fun. I think it needs to be expedited because it'll take off." 

Ally Brown, Ravenwood's senior safety and a Tennessee soccer signee, was only able to play one season but said it will have a lasting impact on her.

Most importantly, she just wants to see flag football grow not only in Williamson County but throughout the rest of the state. 

"I think a lot of girls at our school saw flag football and didn't really know much about it so they didn't come out," Brown said. "Now that they saw us win it all and know what it is, I think there will be a ton who come out. I want the sport to grow and I think it will.

"I know I'll be coming back to watch games." 

Reach Joe Spears at jspears2@gannett.com or 731-343-4923. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @joe_spears