Huntington Beach, Newport Harbor earn spots in national flag football showdown

Huntington Beach High School and Newport Harbor High School earned invitations to the inaugural MaxPreps Flag Football Showdown, a Sept. 11-12 showcase in Chula Vista that will bring together 18 of the nation’s top girls high school flag football teams.

Huntington Beach went 25-2, finished No. 3 in California and No. 9 nationally, and lost only to Newport Harbor and JSerra Catholic last season. Junior quarterback Roxie Shaia threw for 6,692 yards and 89 touchdowns while completing more than 70 percent of her passes. Her career total of 14,157 passing yards ranks 16th all time since the California Interscholastic Federation sanctioned girls flag football in 2023.

The Sailors went 23-3, posted nine shutouts and won a third straight Sunset League title while piling up 67 sacks. Coach Jason Guyser has guided the program for four seasons, and Newport Harbor’s 2023 team went 25-1 while spending part of the season ranked No. 1 in California and nationally.

The two Orange County rivals already have recent history against each other. Newport Harbor beat Huntington Beach 19-13 in overtime in Sunset League play. Huntington Beach also pushed through the CIF Southern Section Division 1 bracket in 2025, beating Esperanza and Camarillo before falling to Orange Lutheran in the semifinals. JSerra Catholic won the Division 1 title over Orange Lutheran.

California sanctioned girls flag football for the 2023-24 school year after a unanimous 146-0 vote, then CIF data showed an 84 percent participation jump in its second sanctioned season to 19,921 players. The National Federation of State High School Associations put the total at nearly 69,000 girls playing flag football in 2024-25 across 2,736 high schools nationwide. MaxPreps and iFlag are backing the Chula Vista event as the first in a two-part series, with a second East Coast stop planned for spring 2027.