Section 9 coaches unveil 2026 girls flag football all-stars

Section 9’s girls flag football coaches have named their 2026 all-stars, and the list reads like a postseason map of the Hudson Valley’s strongest programs. Eleven schools made the Section 9 tournament, the finals were played Friday, May 29, at James I. O’Neill High School, and the champions came from three different classes: Middletown in Class A over Kingston, Washingtonville in Class B over Warwick and Rhinebeck in Class C over Our Lady of Lourdes.

The bracket scores show why those teams carried so much weight into the all-star vote. Middletown edged Mamaroneck 14-12 in the state quarterfinals before losing 37-18 to Half Hollow Hills East in the semifinals. Washingtonville’s run ended with a 33-6 quarterfinal loss to Yorktown, and Rhinebeck fell 26-20 to Westlake in the quarterfinals. Middletown’s trip back to the Class A state playoffs for the second consecutive year added another layer to the story, because it confirmed that its spring was not a one-off surge but part of a sustained climb.

The process behind the honors was built well before the final whistle. Section IX girls flag football coaches met March 2, 2026, and point cards were due May 21 at noon, a schedule that gave the spring postseason a clear structure before the tournament field even settled. The coaches’ all-star selections, which included Ava Pryce among the names recognized, reflect how widely the talent spread across Section 9 rather than sitting in one class or on one campus.

That spread matters for what comes next. Middletown’s close win over Mamaroneck and Washingtonville and Rhinebeck’s state-playoff appearances show that the region’s top teams are not just winning local titles, they are handling the kind of one-score and late-round pressure that decides real postseason runs. Section 9’s all-star list does more than honor the spring’s best players, it points directly to the programs that set the pace in the Hudson Valley and will enter next season with the clearest claim to the region’s balance of power.