Battle Creek – It’s been a long time that a football team at the Lycée de la Région has played the last weekend of the season at Ford Field for a chance in a state championship.
Unless you count the Battle Central Girls Flag football team.
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In the growing world of female lighter’s flag football, Battle Creek Central bearcates qualified for the final tournament and played in Ford Field last spring during their first sports season.
And the bearcates hope to start again.
“It was cool. As, during the NFL season, my family looked at the lions and I just said:” I played on this ground. And, marked a touch “, said Ka’aliyah Williams of Battle Creek Central. “It was great that we had the chance to do that. It is a fun sport to be part.”
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Nae’Ary Wilson by Battle Creek Central and Jayne Bradley put an exercise during a football training at Battle Creek Central High School on Thursday, May 15, 2025.
Battle Creek Central is one of the three teams in the region participating in women’s football this spring, with Marshall and Colon. The bearcates will play their last regular season match on Sunday May 18 in Colon. At 2-1, before this match, BCC has a chance to go to the after-season tournament in Ford Field.
THE Detroit lions Helped create Michigan Girls High School Flag Football League, which started with only four teams during its inaugural season in the spring of 2023 and reached 24 schools and 600 participants last spring. With even more growth this year, the League is the first of its kind of Michigan, aimed at joining the other 13 states where the female high school football is sanctioned by the state. Michigan High School Athletic Association has not yet adopted girls to report football as a university sport, but hope is that one day it will.
Ka’aliyah Williams of Battle Creek Central begins an exercise during a football training at Battle Creek Central High School on Thursday, May 15, 2025.
“We had a group of girls who gathered and that was something that fascinated them, wanting to have a flag football team last year,” said BCC coach Mario Brown. “We have heard that the Detroit Lions had a pilot program and it started from there.
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“The aspiration is that it will one day become a university sport. The biggest decision is whether it will remain in the spring or if it works better in the fall.”
The contactless version of football, the teams are made up of seven players on the field. There are rules concerning how teams can run and pass the ball. But the bases remain the same, which makes him fun for the people involved who grew up by loving the game.
Battle Creek Central coach Mario Brown launches players during a flag football practice at Battle Creek Central High School on Thursday, May 15, 2025.
“It’s a very exciting sport,” said Nae’ary Wilson de BCC. “It is good who is contactless so that girls can enter it. It was a great experience. In addition, there are scholarships. For example, Siena Heights has a university program.”
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Brown and his team train a few times a week, learn new games as you go and develop flag football skills.
“We have quite athletic girls, whom they quickly adapt to the game. From there, it is a question of learning the rules and the games,” said Brown. “There have been more and more girls each year here at Battle Creek who are excited about this. The biggest obstacle is that most of our daughters are multiple sports athletes and that they have other sports that they also play. It is therefore the biggest obstacle.”
Bill Broderick can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him X/ Twitter: @billbroderick
This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Michigan Flag Football: Battle Creek Central, Marshall Field Teams
