Girls kickoff inaugural flag football preseason

Dhenz Agcaoili | Special to SL

PEARL CITY - "Girls just wanna" Cyndi Lauper once sang. And they did Saturday night at Pearl City's Bino Neves Stadium.

It was the first weekend of scrimmages and preseason games for the inaugural girls' flag football season.

"It feels amazing," Campbell receiver Jyzelle Gorion said. "Going out on the field, working with my teammates. I love all these girls."

Pearl City hosted the four-way scrimmage, marking the first time schools played against opponents from other schools. Tryouts officially started Monday. Besides Pearl City and Campbell, Kaiser and Kaimuki also participated in the tuneups for the Oahu Interscholastic Association regular season, which opens March 25 with all 24 schools playing. It was announced in August that girls' flag football would be sanctioned by the Hawaii High School Athletic Association, to make Hawaii the 12th state to compete nationwide. Every league is expected to play this season.

"It was fun," said Kaiser freshman quarterback Kylee Dela Cruz, adding she turned out for the sport because "I really wanted to try something new."

Gorion said she played the sport when she was younger, but stopped as she got older, and was excited when it was announced the sport would be played at the high school level. As with most other girls in the sport, she's involved in other sports. She runs track and boxes.

The coaches were pleased with their teams showing.

"All positives said Kaiser co-coach Jamie Psak, who shares coaching duties with Kasey Fukunaga. "A good experience for the girls, seeing where other kids (from other team) are, the camaraderie, too, because we're all on this journey together, trying to build this flag football in our state."

Campbell coach Will Naboa echoed the same sentiments.

"Overall, I think it was a wonderful experience,"Naboa said. "If you look around here now the teams that are represented - Pearl City, Kaiser, Kaimuki and Campbell - you can feel the energy in the air. This is an amazing thing for the women of the state of Hawaii. Sky's the limit. I just love it."

Kaiser's Dela Cruz said her goal for the season is just to get better and "be good at it."

Campbell's Gorion added: "I felt good. I felt alive. Proving myself on the football field. It feels good."

The girls are making history as the first player of girls' flag football.

"Honestly, it's quite humbling," Naboa said. "This has been a long time coming. These girls right here, they deserve (the sport). Everything that's coming to them, they deserve it, 100 percent."

The teams have about three more weeks of preseason game before the regular-season opener on March 25.

The OIA will have four divisions: East 1 - Castle, Kahuku, Kailua, Kaiser, Kalaheo and Kalani. East 2 - Anuenue, Farrington, Kaimuki, McKinley, Moanalua and Roosevelt. West 1 - Campbell, DreamHouse Charter, Kapolei, Nanakuli, Waianae, Waipahu. West 2: Aiea, Leilehua, Mililani, Pearl City, Radford and Waialua.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].