Grant, East Hampton Bring Girls Flag Football on Board

Jameson Grant knew she wanted to start a girls flag football program at East Hampton High School after her former chemistry teacher, Erin Gillott, mentioned to her that Section XI was doing a trial run of the sport last spring.

“I knew that it was an opportunity that I wanted female athletes to have at our school,” the senior said.

So Grant and Gillott took their idea to then athletic director Joe Vasile-Cozzo who said there would have to be a demonstrated interest from the girls within the high school in order for any progress to be made. The student-teacher pair got together a petition-like survey, Grant said, compiled signatures from the girls who thought they would be interested in playing, and the idea was taken to the Board of Education, which eventually approved their idea.

For the first time ever, East Hampton has a girls flag football team, which gets its season underway this Friday at William Floyd at 4:30 p.m.

“I wouldn’t say I was surprised that the school approved the program, but I was definitely a little unsure about it being approved in the first place,” Grant explained. “I knew that developing a whole new athletic program took time, and I wasn’t sure what that was going to look like in terms of the time we had left at that point in the year. I also knew that things would be a little more uncertain due to the changing of our athletic director.

“Needless to say, I tried to keep as much hope as possible and I’m glad I did.”

Kathy Masterson took over as East Hampton’s athletic director in the middle of the process, but she was on board with the idea from the get go.

“One thing I can say about our board of ed here is that they are so supportive of what these kids want to do,” she said. “I think it’s also the fact that it’s an emerging sport within New York State, so why not get involved with it? Take the ball and run with it. I am all for more opportunities for kids, and we’re doing just fine in our numbers with lacrosse and softball. If anything, our numbers have climbed with both teams. In fact, we’ve had a great turnout for all of our sports this spring.”

After Section XI’s trial run last season, the county has seen a huge boom this spring. What started out as eight schools in Suffolk last season has now nearly doubled, with 14 schools now on board. The sport has certainly caught on statewide as well, with 142 teams total within the New York State Public High School Athletic Association, and that doesn’t even include the 60 teams that play within the Public School Athletic League in New York City.

NYSPHSAA voted last month to make girls flag football a sanctioned varsity championship sport in 2024, complete with a state tournament. This season, the New York Jets will host a New York regional title game — Long Island vs. Section IX — at their New Jersey training complex on June 10.

Jonathan Augi is East Hampton’s head coach this season, and will be assisted by Gillott. Augi, who is also a chemistry teacher at the high school, is also a current middle school football coach and has experience playing the sport in the Long Island Flag Football League.

Augi said the girls’ game will be 7 v. 7 with just one person, the ball snapper, creating the line of scrimmage. All players on the field, including the snapper, are eligible to go out for a pass. After that, it’s pretty basic fundamental football.

This year’s inaugural team includes Grant, Ava Arcoleo, Addison Barletta, Caleigh Barletta, Lexi Cantwell, Sadako Cober, Salome Galindo, Jocelyn Garcia, Lily Griffin, Clio McCarty, Grace Merkert, Kerri O’Donnell, Abigail O’Sullivan, Daisy Pitches, Jocelyn Prieto, Audrey Smith, Chloe Swickard, Skye Tanzmann and Saffron Zeff.

One thing the program has going for it early on is the fact that it already has a feeder system, being that varsity football head coach Joe McKee started a youth flag football league locally, which was initially made to feed the football team. But both Masterson and Augi see it as something that will eventually help their new program as well. Augi said the girls on this year’s team did not play in McKee’s program, but the girls that are currently on the middle school level have, and have already shown an interest in playing in the future.

As for this year’s team, Grant says the first week or so has definitely been a learning experience for the entire team, but they’re ready to get the season underway.

“Nearly all of the girls on the team had been attending preseason workouts since the end of January, so we all had a pretty good grasp on the skills and techniques of the game prior to the start of the season,” she said. “We’ve spent most of our practices learning strategic ways to execute both offensive and defensive plays. With our first game being so soon in the season, we all are trying to perfect what we already know, while still of course learning new things. We are anxious to get out on the field and play against another team, as we know that it will be a time for all of us to use what we know and observe how other teams play. Despite being a team that is newer to the program, we are going into our game against William Floyd on Friday with confidence that we have what it takes to win.”