Madison's Ross chooses Heidelberg, stays close to home for flag football

Madison senior Kennedy Ross chose Heidelberg after weighing more than 10 collegiate offers, landing at a program in Tiffin, Ohio, that keeps her close enough for family, friends and former teammates to watch her play. The move tied school and sport together, giving Ross a place to keep competing while staying rooted near home.

That proximity mattered in a recruiting process that could have taken her much farther away. Ross wanted the people who had followed her at Madison to be part of the next stage of her career, and Heidelberg gave her that along with an academic fit.

The football piece is just as important. Heidelberg’s women’s flag football team began club competition in spring 2026 after the university said in April 2025 that the sport would launch as a club team and could move to varsity status in spring 2027 if enough interest emerged. The school said at the time that more than 65 colleges across the country already supported women’s flag football teams at the varsity or club level, and that 72 high school girls flag football teams were competing in Ohio alone.

Ohio’s path for the sport sharpened further on June 24, 2026, when the Ohio High School Athletic Association made girls flag football a fully sanctioned sport for the 2026-27 school year after a unanimous vote by its Board of Directors. The OHSAA had already set a state championship event for girls flag football beginning in spring 2026, creating a clearer route from high school fields to college programs as the sport continues to expand.

Ross’s choice fits that moment. She had a broad market, a local connection and a new program that is still being built in real time. For Heidelberg, she arrives as the school weighs whether women’s flag football will stay a club team or grow into a varsity sport. For Ross, the decision gives her both a college home and a chance to help shape one of the sport’s earliest campus programs.