The rise in popularity of high school girls flag football has been meteoric both in New Jersey and across the country.
Belleville is the latest to become a part of what has quickly become arguably the hottest sport within The Observer area.
The Buccaneers flag football team played its inaugural game on March 31, when it hosted state-ranked West Orange. While the opener was a 34-6 loss, the score didn’t dampen the excitement for the new team and since then, Belleville has posted wins over Memorial of West New York, Millburn and Hoboken.
“It’s been awesome so far,” Belleville head coach Brian Antab said. “The first game, we had a tough opponent in West Orange, but the girls were excited. They didn’t put their heads down at all during the game and they competed. There was a lot of excitement around the stadium for the start. It was a great atmosphere. And since that first game, we’ve had a nice little run here.”
The March 31 opener was the culmination of months of work to bring flag football to Belleville.
According to athletic director Marcellino Marra, surveys were conducted to gauge interest among the girls in the building and the feedback showed, “there was an overwhelming interest.” After an additional survey was done to determine how flag football might affect the school’s other sports, the decision was made to move forward with the idea
“My administration put a proposal together and talked to the Board (of Education) and they were all for it,” said Marra. “We also had a deadline from the Super Football Conference. I would say this all happened late fall and it got done pretty quickly.”
“As soon as it was brought up as a possibility, I knew that there was going to be a lot of girls that were excited about it,” Antab said. “Last year, we had a powder puff game as a fundraiser for the senior class and the girls loved that. I think that really sparked the interest of a lot of the girls.”
Since it first started in 2021 with eight New Jersey high schools, girls flag football, in conjunction with Nike and the NFL, has ballooned to 142 teams across the state. All five of New Jersey’s football conferences now sponsor flag football as well.
Within The Observer area, Harrison, Lyndhurst and Nutley added flag football the next year in 2022. North Arlington followed not too long after.
Belleville was one of 27 schools to add flag football for 2025. The Bucs and Nutley are a part of the Super Football Conference, while Harrison, Lyndhurst and North Arlington play in the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference.
While flag football is currently a club sport and not sponsored by the NJSIAA, it certainly isn’t treated as one by those who play it.
“These girls are eager to learn,” said Antab. “They want to learn and we don’t have to repeat ourselves over and over when we correct something with the girls.They give their best effort to get it fixed right away.
“The team that we are right now, you wouldn’t believe it if you came out to practice a month ago and saw where we were. That’s really a credit to the girls’ work ethic. They’re really invested in learning the game and being successful.”
According to NorthJersey.com, the NJSIAA expects to receive a proposal later this year to officially sanction flag football. Pending approval from its members, the NJSIAA could begin sanctioning the sport and host its own state tournament as early as 2027.
Regardless of its NJSIAA status, there’s no denying that flag football is here to stay and only going to continue to get bigger.
“It’s totally going to get bigger. I just know more and more schools are going to want to do it,” Marra said. “Any way these kids have another outlet to play sports and do well when they’re practicing and and they’re playing sports, is a good thing. It’s a great opportunity and I think it’s going to become one of the biggest things.”
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)