Emma Rascoe named All-Greater Rochester flag football player of the year

Emma Rascoe’s arm and legs separated Webster Schroeder from the rest of Section V, and the 2026 All-Greater Rochester Flag Football Team put that season in official order. Selected by a vote of Section V coaches with input from Democrat and Chronicle staff, the honor roll named the senior quarterback-rusher from Webster Schroeder as the runaway choice for Player of the Year.

Rascoe’s case was built on the kind of finish that defines a championship team. Webster Schroeder beat Webster Thomas 27-6 in the Section V Class B final on May 23, 2026, giving the Warriors a second straight sectional title. In that game, Rascoe threw a touchdown pass to Jillian Pagano and added a rushing touchdown before halftime, then helped the Warriors control the game after an early 6-6 tie. Earlier postseason coverage showed the same pattern at a higher gear: Rascoe threw four touchdown passes and also returned an interception for a touchdown.

The All-Greater Rochester honor also put a human frame around the numbers. Rascoe is the daughter of Paige Carpenter and Shawn Rascoe, and her next stop is St. John Fisher University, where she plans to play soccer and flag football while studying sports management. That path matters because Fisher announced on Nov. 17, 2025, that women’s flag football will begin in 2026, raising the university’s varsity sports total to 28 and putting it alongside SUNY Brockport, SUNY Geneseo, Hartwick College, Elmira College and Russell Sage College as Empire 8 schools with the sport.

Fisher also pointed to the size of the pipeline already forming in New York, saying the state has more than 4,000 flag student-athletes and more than 30 Section V teams. With women’s flag football set for its Summer 2028 Olympic debut, Rascoe’s college plan sits inside a sport that now has local depth, a sectional championship stage and a national pathway for its best athletes.

That is what the All-Greater Rochester team shows most clearly. Section V flag football is no longer being introduced to the region one showcase at a time. It now has a year-end honor roll, a Player of the Year standard and a championship track that gives schools reason to invest and recruits reason to stay close to home.