By Rich Chrampanis
HOLMDEL – There aren’t Friday night lights yet for the girls of Shore Conference flag football but it could be coming sooner than you think. The trailblazers of this new eight-team league are making a strong case in just their second week of competition, decked out in Nike uniforms and backed by the New York Giants.
At Holmdel High School, the hometown Hornets scored an impressive 30-14 win over Middletown North while Shore Regional dominated Middletown (a combined Middletown North/South team) 42-7. Middletown South and Mater Dei Prep are also competing, along with Matawan and Pinelands.
While it’s officially a club sport, played this season in a seven-on-seven, half-field format, experienced football coaches are drawing up plays and girls are quickly adapting from their previous sports to playing football. Shore Regional varsity football coach Mark Costantino is proud to add girls football coach to his resume.
“We threw it around pretty good,” Costantino said. “We have some players. I think they’re better than some of my guys. I tell them that every day. We run a lot of the same plays that we run on the varsity. We call it the same way so when they talk to the guys in school, they’re laughing.”
Madison LaRosa was a standout on the Shore Regional girls basketball team. Her athleticism translates quite well to the gridiron. She closed out the Blue Devils victory with a tremendous leaping catch in the back of the end zone, adjusting in mid-air to make sure she got her feet inbounds.
“I’ve loved football since I was a little kid; I love watching it,” LaRosa said. “I thought it was a great opportunity, especially for us girls, to show what we’ve got.”
Holmdel’s Lindsay Cannon is going in the record books as the state’s first five-sport athlete. Since flag football is a club sport, she is allowed to do double duty, playing both lacrosse and football in the spring, to go along with soccer, basketball and volleyball in other seasons.
“My family’s always been a football family,” Cannon said. “My uncle’s on the scoreboard (John Cannon played nine seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers). We watch every Sunday so I always wanted to play. I finally got the opportunity.”
Middletown North’s Steve Bush was a former NFL assistant coach who’s mentored many quarterbacks. He now has Valentina Fanetti who’s played flag football on the national level. The southpaw throws a tight spiral and it’s obvious to see she is an experienced signal caller. Fanetti is leading the movement of girls football at her school.
“I’m noticing that a lot of girls have potential and they just don’t notice it,” Fanetti said. “My teammates didn’t think they could play football and now they’re catching touchdowns all day.”
NJSIAA executive director Colleen Maguire watched firsthand the newest venture in New Jersey high school athletics. Most players on the eight teams in the Shore girls football league say it’s time to upgrade flag football from a club sport.
“I think it should be a varsity sport,” Cannon said. “I’m hoping that if it does well this spring that eventually they make it a varsity sport and girls can play for a letter, play in college eventually. That would be so cool.”
The article originally appeared in the May 20 – 26, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.
