Harford Community College added women’s flag football this year, bringing one of the nation’s fastest growing sports to Harford County. The Owls join a growing number of colleges at all levels with newly launched programs, many of which are aided by partnerships with NFL teams as the league expands initiatives to grow the sport.

Girls flag football is also blossoming at the high school level. Eight jurisdictions in Maryland have either introduced it as a varsity sport within the past three years or announced plans to launch it in the near future.

But, despite HCC’s trailblazing, HCPS is not yet one of them.

Harford County Public Schools director of athletics Debbie Basler, in a statement to The Aegis this week, said HCPS lacks funding needed to create a new varsity sport but “continually evaluates opportunities to expand extracurricular offerings.”

“At this time, however, there is no dedicated funding available to add a new varsity sport, including girls flag football, at the high school level,” the statement read.

Seven Maryland counties – Frederick, Montgomery, Washington, Calvert, Charles, Prince George’s and Howard – along with Baltimore City have either already introduced the sport at the high school level or announced plans to within the next years. Frederick County was the first to bring girls flag football to the state in 2023.

That follows nationwide trends. According to the NFHS, more than 68,000 girls competed in flag football in the 2024-25 school year, almost 1,000 schools added the sport, and 22 states will have sanctioned it by 2027.

Maryland is not one of them. But the number of high schools in the state with varsity teams nearly doubled in 2025, from 53 to 92. Maryland held its first girls flag football high school state championship in 2024 in M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, although the MPSSAA does not yet sanction the sport.

“In Maryland, it’s brand new,” HCC head coach Andre Smalls said. “So that’s a challenge. We’re kind of limited on how many seniors we can bring in.”

Smalls, who’s coached youth and high school football throughout the state for more than two decades, last year was tabbed the person responsible for helping launch the program. His priorities since then have been spreading awareness and assembling a roster, which requires creating new relationships with high school coaches and athletic directors to find prospective players.

Q&A: Harford Community College AD, women’s flag football players excited to see sport’s growth

Smalls said he’s spoken with “over 120” area coaches. That includes some schools or counties that don’t currently have girls flag football programs.

“When y’all pick up flag football, can I come talk to them? Or even before, can we get out there and get some type of traction and attention?” Smalls said, describing his pitch to schools that haven’t introduced the sport yet. “Do you have students who would want to play this at the next level?”

HCC’s program is through a partnership with the Baltimore Ravens, who say they’ve invested $600,000 to date to help Maryland high schools and colleges launch teams. Ravens cheerleaders and Poe, the mascot, will attend the Owls’ first game this spring.

While Harford County is not yet one of the jurisdictions that sponsor the sport, Smalls is hopeful it one day will. He envisions a future for women’s and girls flag football that features it being played at the Olympics, professional leagues, and teams at every high school and college – access to a sport historically reserved for men to be opened to a new, wider audience.

“They’ve supported since Day 1,” Smalls said about his team’s partnership with the local NFL club. “It’s good to have them out there for our first game. Especially with social media, when that gets on there, it’ll be like, ‘Hey, Harford Community College women’s flag football, they really did it.’ I think all of that is really going to help build the program, and hopefully make other high schools see that and go ahead and bring it on as a sport.”

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