All-girls' flag football team in Granite Bay beats boys' team

Flag football is a sport that has been rapidly growing in recent years, especially with the youth as according to the NFL, more than 1.5-million players are aged from 6 to 12 years old. This growth has also been seen with girls and the California Interscholastic Federation recently approved girls' flag football to be a high school sport starting in the 2023-24 school year. Schools from across the Sac-Joaquin Section will be allowed to start up girls' flag football teams that can play others across the region. There is already an all-girls flag football team in the area making a statement that the girls can play with the boys. The Granite Bay Trojans are an all-girls flag football team that is full of 10-year-olds and for many, it's their first time playing the sport. That hasn't stopped them from playing hard and they recently defeated an all-boys' team. "As the clock was winding down five to zero, they all started screaming at the top of their lungs," Trojans assistant coach Dallas Sartz said. "We have people in the community that don't even have kids out there that come. When the clock struck zero, everyone on the Granite Bay High football field knew we beat those guys. It was so awesome." Sartz has been involved with football since he was a child and played at Granite Bay High where he won two section titles in 1999 and 2000. He went on to play at the University of Southern California (USC) and was a two-time team captain for the Trojans before entering the NFL and being on the practice squad for the Washington Redskins, Minnesota Vikings and the Seattle Seahawks. Sartz began his coaching career at the University of California at Davis in 2010 before making his way back to Granite Bay in 2014 to coach in different capacities for the high school team. One of the players on the Trojans flag football team is his 10-year-old daughter, Monroe. Sartz had coached her in baseball and soccer for four years before getting her into flag football. Sartz got the idea of starting the flag football team after speaking with the owner of Next Level Sports, Patrick Walsh. Next Level Sports features a winter flag football program for youth aged five to 14. According to Sartz, half of the flag football roster, which features 12 total players, is made up of girls from the soccer team he had coached called the Bumblebees. The name for the Trojans comes from the mascot of his alma mater at University of Southern California. "I'm coaching people whose parents I went to high school with," Sartz said. "I probably could've had 30 girls that wanted to sign up on the team but I had to turn people away." The head coach of the Trojans is Granite Bay High junior Jace Martinez. Martinez plays football and rugby for the Grizzlies and helped the football team reach the Sac-Joaquin Section title game back in November. "The most rewarding part about coaching the girls is I get to basically introduce them to football," Martinez said. "I also enjoy just being around them and watching them succeed." Sartz mentioned that half of the girls on the team go to Ridgeview Elementary School in Granite Bay. The team practices for an hour on Saturdays prior to playing a game on the high school field on the same day. "I've had parents tell me that the girls like playing it more than soccer," Sartz said. "They've wanted to play but never had a platform to do it. This is the only sport they can truly compete against the boys." There are times the team will practice after school on a Friday, but with the lack of prior knowledge about the game, it forces Sartz and Martinez to give thorough explanations. "It's funny and eye-opening because they don't know what they don't know," Sartz said. "Some don't know a lot of the rules but we have to take a step back when we explain stuff because they've never really pulled a flag or don't know what motion is." Sartz is excited about the growth of the game, especially the increase in females, and said he plans on coaching the high school team when one is formed at Granite Bay. "For them to step out of their comfort zone and compete against boys and people they see at school is awesome," Sartz said. "They have nice camaraderie; everyone in the community loves it. I couldn't be more proud of what they're doing and how they handle everything. Lot of boys say stuff like 'it's only a girl' and have double takes and the girls get flack when they go out and compete. It's awesome they get to have the platform, the girls absolutely love it and the parents are behind us. There is great community support and backing. I get so many texts and calls that say that's so awesome and 'girl power.' It's here to stay and it's only going to go forwards, not backwards." The players on the Granite Bay Trojans are Monroe Sartz, Emily Chervenak, Keira DeLany, Ruby English, Abigail Ferguson, Olivia Galuppo, Kori Peterson, Kamryn Peterson, Colette Pieser, Lyla Quinones, Arianna Brown and Lucca Smith.