SSP girls’ flag football
kicks off second season

South St. Paul girls’ flag football kicks off second season
By Jake Spitzack | Staff Writer | April 2026

High school girls are taking to the gridiron at Ettinger Field, and not in small numbers. South St. Paul Secondary’s girls flag football season kicks off its second season in April and around 50 players are expected to fill out the varsity, junior varsity and B-squad teams. Last year’s inaugural team had a similar turnout, and head coach Don Nihart is eager to build on the momentum. The sport is still in the early stages of being accredited by the Minnesota State High School League – likely still a full year out – but all games are officiated and a league-organized state tournament will be held in June at TCO Stadium.

The Minnesota Vikings piloted the program with four schools in 2024, and last year provided donations to about 50 schools statewide to get the league off the ground; funds covered equipment, referee payments and stipends for coaches. Smaller donations were awarded to each school this year, and next year each school will be responsible for covering all expenses. An additional 50 teams were added to the league this year.

“As a [boys] football coach for many years at the middle school level in our district, I’ve had female students ask about football or to play on the team and this was just a really cool opportunity to have something of their own,” said Nihart, noting that last year’s kicker on the boys’ varsity tackle football team was a high school girl. “I also help coordinate our youth flag and tackle football programs and there’ve always been young ladies prevalent in those programs. Last fall, we started a specific girls flag football program for first through sixth grade, which girls on our high school team last year played a big role in.”

Several players from last year’s squad, including the quarterback and a running back, have graduated, but Nihart said most of the players were juniors and are returning this year. He said a few underclassmen have “top notch arms” for the quarterback position and two all-conference players will be back to help lead the team: Aviana Mugoodwin Delmares, wide receiver, and Ava Castillo, linebacker. All-conference honorable mention Maciah Davis will also be back on both defense and offense. Overall, Nihart looks forward to having a well-balanced offense this year, utilizing both passing and running.

Even though the sport doesn’t allow tackling, intensity remains high. Intentional contact is penalized with yardage reductions, and defensive players who are rushing the quarterback must start seven yards back from the line of scrimmage and signal to the referee that they’re a rusher. If a quarterback doesn’t throw the ball on a passing play within seven seconds, they must run it themselves or the play is ruled dead.

Nihart is joined this year by assistant coach Matt Teigland and volunteers Todd Reynolds, Teresa Tonda, Connie Ecklund, Blair Reynolds and Beto Brito. Fundraisers in partnership with the Papa Murphy’s and Qdoba’s in West St. Paul will be held in April to support the program.

The sport will likely remain in the springtime since boys football takes over Ettinger Field in the fall. However, Nihart hopes the season will be lengthened in the future. Practices are held three times per week.

“It’s not currently governed by the state high school league so it’s kind of the wild west as far as what we are allowed to do,” said Nihart. “We are starting [practices] earlier this year and will be trying to create some of our own schedule off the league schedule, separate competitions…. A lot of the girls are multi-sport athletes, and we coordinated with their coaches and created a schedule that accommodates everything. We’re not trying to poach any players, but I think some kids are just choosing to make football their spring activity, whether they were in other activities before or not. I think we’ll have a large number that are primarily focused on football.”

In recent years, the Minnesota State High School League has expanded several sports to allow more opportunities for both boys and girls. For example, girls wrestling was sanctioned in 2021 and boys volleyball in 2025. For more information about the flag football team, visit sspgirlsflagfootball.com. All games are played on Sunday. The team’s sole home game this year will be a double-header on May 17 versus Simley and Two Rivers.

Here’s the schedule. All games are double-headers.

• May 17, vs. Simley at Ettinger Field at 4 p.m.; vs. Two Rivers at 5 p.m.
• April 26, vs. Humboldt at Humboldt High School at 4 p.m.; vs. Simley at 5 p.m.
• May 3, vs. Two Rivers, at Two Rivers High School at 4 p.m.; vs. Humboldt at 5 p.m.
• May 10, vs. Apple Valley at Eagan High School at 4 p.m.; vs. Eagan at 5 p.m.