Several schools to field first-ever flag football teams this fall

Jason Fisher (center) will lead Billingsley in its first season of flag football (junior varsity) beginning this fall. (File Photo)

By TIM GAYLE

Jason Fisher had earned a reputation at Prattville High as a defensive coordinator for the Lions’ flag football team. Billingsley players, who knew Fisher was arriving at the Class 1A Autauga County program to coach softball, saw an opportunity for flag football when Fisher arrived in early June.

“Some of the girls had been asking for it,” Fisher said. “They knew the job that myself, Mike Battle and Coach (Brian) Pittman did at Prattville and they wanted to get somebody who had done it before to come out here and start it.

“We were going to do it next year, but I got on campus and was hit with … ‘why don’t we do it this year?’ One day after (offseason softball) workouts I had an interest meeting and I had 24 girls sign up.”

The Bears are one of several River Region teams that will launch a flag football program in the 2025-26 school year. The Alabama High School Athletic Association had imposed a deadline of June 1 to sign up for the 2025 season, so the Bears will participate this year as a junior varsity program, ineligible to compete for a state championship.

“We can’t compete for a state championship this year, but as soon as December rolls around, we’ll announce that we’re going to compete at the varsity level,” Fisher said.

The Bears will be the smallest flag football program in central Alabama, playing a sport that competes with volleyball for players, so it’s difficult to field a team in the smaller classifications.

“I’m not telling girls they need to pick between volleyball and flag football,” Fisher said. “What we’re telling girls is we’re going to work around their volleyball schedule and make it work.”

On Aug. 28, for example, the Bears have a tri-match scheduled at home with Prattville and Marbury, along with a volleyball match that afternoon. Billingsley players who participate in both sports will play volleyball first, then transition to the football field for the second of two games that day.

Billingsley also has a tri-match set up with Alabama Christian and G.W. Carver, two other first-year programs, on Sept. 13 at Billingsley, a road trip to Marbury and another tri-match with first-year program Elmore County and defending state champion Catholic.

The Bears will apply for the National Football League grant next season, but missed the deadline to apply this year, so the school will have to bear the financial burden of a start-up program.

“We didn’t get in on the Atlanta Falcons’ grant this year because I was hired a little too late,” Fisher said. “As soon as it opens up, we’ll do that. (Billingsley football coach Lanny Jones) said to piggyback with them as far as fund raising and sponsorships. We use the same football field so there’s no use in putting up signs and taking them down. Being a small town, Billingsley doesn’t have a lot of people and football will help offset the cost of flag football this year.”

Fisher isn’t sure what to expect, but has been encouraged by what he has seen in early workouts.

“I just wanted to see what the girls knew,” he said. “We ran two routes and all of them understood the route concepts. And I’ve got four girls who can absolutely sling a football. The talent level, do I see someone like (Prattville’s) Lanieya Page out there? Probably not. But speed wise, do I see a London Williams? Yes. We’ve got speed and the ability, but maybe not the star power.

“You’re going to have girls that are going to have to play both sides of the ball, but I’m used to that because even at Prattville, on a 7A level, we had girls playing on both sides of the ball. But Alana Jones, who can sling a football, can also catch. Harmony Arnold, an eighth grader, probably looked the best at throwing the football. And my daughter, who will be a seventh grader, her and Harmony were both slinging a ball down the field.”

Making the 2025 squad were Jaden McDaniel, Kaliyah McCary, Tatianna Owens, Ja’Kayla Harris, Camia Sheppard, Alawna Owens, Paisley Burns, Kennedy Lawrence, Addyson Raines, Ella Fisher, Shaniya Shelton, Kinsley Cotton, Harmony Arnold, Shariah Olds, Adriana Rasberry, Brylin Tomlin, Alana Jones and Kamaya Headen.

“I’ve got some girls with some speed, so we can pull a page from the Central-Phenix City playbook and run some option,” Fisher said. “We can do what Coach Battle and I did with the (Prattville) JV team and run the ball a lot more because once you spread everybody out, there are running lanes.”