By BRIAN TORTELLA
Correspondent
There will soon be an official new sport in New Jersey.
The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association approved girls flag football as a pilot on Dec. 6, paving its way to officially becoming the 35th sport sanctioned by the NJSIAA on Dec. 1, 2025.
The two-year pilot program passed unanimously at the NJSIAA executive committee meeting, making the Garden State the 21st to approve a pilot program for the sport. Since it is not yet officially a NJSIAA sanctioned sport, players have the freedom to play another spring sport, such as softball or lacrosse, while partaking in flag football.
With participation numbers skyrocketing the past two years, New Jersey now has more 80 teams set to compete this spring.
While this will be North Jersey’s third year competing at the club level, this will only be South Jersey’s second since the West Jersey Football League (WJFL) launched it last spring.
South Jersey will have 26 schools competing — 12 more than in 2023 — broken into four divisions: Royal, Liberty, National and American. (See division alignment chart at bottom of page). Each school will play each other once in division, with the freedom to pick up crossovers as they see fit.
The Philadelphia Eagles, who sponsor the league along with NIKE, hosted a media day on Saturday for first-year teams only, and it included uniform reveals, individual player photo shoots and meet-and-greets with Eagles players.
(New South Jersey first-year teams include Timber Creek, Woodbury, Collingswood, Cherry Hill West, Camden, Camden East Side, New Egypt, KIPP, Ewing, Millville, Delsea, Egg Harbor Township, Pleasantville and Cape May Tech.)
The WJFL South Jersey semifinals and championship will be played at the Eagles’ NovaCare Complex on June 1. Only teams that win their division will advance to the tournament. (Royal vs Liberty; National vs American) The winner of each will play in the championship later that day.)
“The Eagles are great,” said Mastery Charter (Camden) head coach Aaron Clark. “(Eagles Community Relations Manager) Dan Levy and his staff have done an amazing job with helping the game of girls flag football grow in our area. The championship and media day is so much fun for the girls. The Eagles really give our girls a great experience at every event they host.”
Mastery Charter is the reigning champion, having beaten Cedar Creek, 22-12, in the championship game last spring. This will be Charter’s third year, as they competed in the Pennsylvania league in 2022.
“We have been coaching girls flag football for eight years now,” Clark said. “We have watched it grow into the amazing sports it is today. The opportunities flag football is giving these girls now is just great. From college scholarships and becoming an olympic sport in 2028 is just amazing. I’m so excited that New Jersey is going to make it an official sport.”
While Mastery is looking to defend its title, that task will only be tougher this time around with new Group 3 and Group 4 challengers such as Delsea and Millville in the mix, among others.
“I found girls flag football an interesting opportunity for several reasons,” said Dave LaGamba, Millville athletic director and American division representative. “It’s great to be able to offer another opportunity for our kids to participate and compete in a new program. Our female student-athletes tend to be extremely athletic and very competitive, which is a great combination. That said, as long as the kids have a good time and a chance to compete, we’re going to view this year as a success. Then continue to build each year.”
The league also opened up a new opportunity for Woodbury coach Anthony Reagan Sr., who will lead the girls program alongside Jamal White.
No stranger to finding success, Reagan has led the Thundering Herd’s football program since 2018, and captured the first NJSIAA group 1 state title in 2022. He also serves as the varsity assistant girls basketball coach.
“I believe flag football will present our girls with an opportunity to work together as a team,” Reagan said. “It will provide them a platform to play a sport that many in our country adore, which is football. Our basketball girls are excited to play flag football. We currently have eight girls signed up from the basketball team.”
New Woodbury Athletic Director Anthony Browning expressed interest in bringing flag football to Woodbury and that aligned with Reagan’s prayers to provide more opportunities for girls to have a healthy outlet to compete.
Building and improving the overall morale at Woodbury — For Reagan, that in itself trumped solely focusing on the upcoming fall football season, he said.
The belief around South Jersey is that the girls will find success in this first season beyond wins and losses. For them, it’s about making history.
Brian Tortella is a correspondent for South Jersey Glory Days. Follow him on X @tortreports.
| ROYAL | LIBERTY | NATIONAL | AMERICAN |
| Kingsway | Mastery Charter | Cedar Creek | Hammonton |
| Washington Township | Camden | Absegami | Mainland |
| Timber Creek | Eastside | Oakcrest | Egg Harbor Township |
| Pennsauken | New Egypt | Millville | Ocean City |
| Woodbury | Willingboro | Middle Township | Delsea |
| Collingswood | KIPP | Cape May Tech | Pleasantville |
| Cherry Hill West | Ewing |
