St. Mary’s High School will field a team in the new Massachusetts eight-team girls flag football league that has been launched by the New England Patriots Foundation.
St. Mary’s head coach Terrell Patterson and five of the players – Sophia Lafontant, Alice Linares, Alyssa Barnett, Latisha Rivera, and Kate Parada – participated in a special launch event hosted by the Patriots April 20 at Gillette Stadium. During the program, each girl received her brand-new flag football uniform.
The players also had the opportunity to meet NFL Hall of Famer Andre Tippett and current Patriots cornerback Marcus Jones.
In support of the inaugural season, the New England Patriots Foundation provided a $5,000 grant to each school to facilitate the emerging sport. Flag football equipment was donated to each school by USA Football, and the custom uniforms were donated by Nike.
In addition to St. Mary’s High School, the other teams apart of the inaugural league include Ayer-Shirley Regional High School, Chelsea High School, Fitchburg High School, Leominster High School, Needham High School, Peabody Veterans Memorial High School and Woburn Memorial High School.
Though the program will kick off with these eight schools, girls flag football has been growing rapidly at a national level and the Patriots Foundation hopes that this inaugural season leads to expansion of the sport across New England. This spring promises to be a fun, competitive, and trendsetting flag football season.