North dominates South 44-6 in inaugural girls flag football all-star game

The North made the first girls flag football all-star game tied to Lions history look routine, racing past the South 44-6 at Wayne Schneider Stadium on the campus of Tracy High School. The North scored the game’s first 24 points and never let the South build any sustained response, turning the inaugural showcase into a clear statement about how far the girls game has come in California.

The win carried extra weight because it came inside the 50th annual Central California Lions All-Star Football Game weekend, where girls flag was added to a lineup that has long centered on tackle football. The first girls game began at 5 p.m., with the boys all-star game following at 7 p.m., giving the new event a front-row spot in a long-running summer tradition that dates to 1973. All Rise Foundation backed the 2026 edition, and the girls roster drew from Lions District 4-A1, a territory that stretches through the Central Valley from Merced to Lodi and east into the Sierra foothills.

That regional footprint showed up in the North’s roster, which included Angelique Gonzalez, Larissa Harries and Keira McCulley among the local standouts on the winning side. Their presence helped give the first game a familiar feel for fans across the district while also underscoring the depth of talent that now exists across the area. Instead of feeling like an exhibition built around novelty, the game played like a real all-star matchup, with the North separating quickly and keeping control from the opening stretch.

The result also fit the larger rise of girls flag football in the state. The California Interscholastic Federation officially sanctioned the sport in February 2023, and the NFHS reported that high school athletics participation reached an all-time high in 2024-25, with girls flag football among the sports showing significant growth. In that context, the Lions debut was more than a lopsided score line. It was a proof-of-concept moment, one that showed the sport has enough talent, structure and interest to claim a place beside the region’s traditional all-star fixtures.