USA TODAY names All-First Coast girls flag football team

USA TODAY’s All-First Coast girls flag football team put Northeast Florida’s depth on display, with the June 20 honor roll spanning quarterbacks, receivers, defenders and all-purpose players from across the Jacksonville area. The list was more than a year-end award sheet. It reflected a region that has turned girls flag football into a repeatable high school pipeline, with enough school-by-school talent to fill a full all-area roster.

Ponte Vedra junior Izzy Murray headlined the team as the Times-Union’s player of the year after running the Sharks’ high-scoring passing attack. Murray threw for 4,884 yards and 71 touchdowns, completed 445 of 598 passes, and added 79 tackles and four interceptions on defense. That production ranked her sixth nationally in passing yards and helped explain why Ponte Vedra drew so much attention around Florida. The Sharks began varsity girls flag football in 2025, started the 2026 season 19-0 and held opponents under five points per game, a rapid rise that matched Murray’s two-way impact.

Ponte Vedra’s individual hardware did not stop there. Scott Conroy was named the 2026 Jaguars Girls Flag Coach of the Year, while Murray also earned the 2026 Jaguars Girls Flag All-PREP Player of the Year honor. That kind of sweep matters in a sport where coaching structure and program investment often separate the contenders from the also-rans. In Northeast Florida, the recognition reached beyond one player and one school, reinforcing the idea that the region has built a system that can develop quarterbacks, defenders and versatile athletes at the same time.

The timing of the honor roll also fit into a larger sport-wide surge. The National Federation of State High School Associations reported 68,847 girls played high school flag football in 2024-25, a 60% increase from the year before, with nearly 1,000 additional schools adding the sport. The federation said 16 states now sanction girls flag football, with two more scheduled by 2027 and 22 additional states running independent or pilot programs. USA TODAY reported in May 2026 that 23 states now sanction the sport ahead of its 2028 Olympic debut, while Florida has had a head start of about 20 years through the Florida High School Athletic Association.

Florida’s state tournament schedule underscored how established the sport has become. The 2026 regional quarterfinals were set for April 28-29, regional semifinals for May 4, regional finals for May 7, and the state semifinals and championship for May 15-16 at the AdventHealth Training Center in Tampa, the practice home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In that setting, the All-First Coast team read less like a local snapshot and more like proof that Northeast Florida has become one of the sport’s most reliable talent centers.