Paso Robles High School athletic department has put together their first ever girls flag football team, having their first game against San Luis Obispo High School, Aug. 28, 2025 at Parish Field PRHS, and ending in a tie 13-13, where both the football and volleyball teams came to show their support.
They have a current league record of 1-1-1. The biggest challenge the team has fixed so far is maintaining a strong mindset when playing. “The mindset of knowing it’s a varsity sport,” assistant coach Constantino Delgado said, “Many of them came out with the mindset that this was a club or PE class but no, it’s an actual CIF, varsity sport, which is also internationally recognized and growing every day.”
Despite that, he believes there will be a strong outcome with this team, as they are all well bonded and now committed.
Girls flag football has been acknowledged for the last 3 years by CIF, and PRHS has been planning to make it an official sport since 2024.
The 21-roster includes starting line up Harlem Rickson, Lila Colegrove, Emily Santoro, Isabelle Murphy, Genesis Gavilanes, and Julia Cox. The starting line up are the people who begin the game, coaches create these line ups considering factors like skill, health, and attitude. Along with that they have a total of four captions, Cox, Caylee Lamb, Murphy, and Rickson.
Cox, athlete of the week in early September, plays wide receiver and linebacker, Cox and feels like flag football still is a childhood game now on a varsity level.
“It’s just like a backyard game, it really speaks to me, and being able to play it with a passion really gives you a different sort of feeling,” Cox said.
She hopes this will open a window of opportunities for girls and plans to represent her team the best she can, hoping to bring in more interest for upcoming seasons.
To prepare for games you can often see Cox hyping up her team and bringing the energy up.
“I try to be the hype man. I like to set a goal, telling my team, we need to score two touchdowns or we need to pull ten flags in this game. I think it really sets the standards and brings the energy,” Cox said.
With three league games completed, 1 tournament completed, and one more on the way, competition is looking high. Paso will be participating in a total of nine league games, four being home, and two tournaments, playing schools like Righetti, Lompoc, and San Luis Obispo. Coaches and players hope to comeback with a win for their upcoming game against Pioneer Valley who are league 0-2. The team’s next home game is Oct. 2, 2025, against King City, who are overall 4-4 and league 2-3.
