The Malden High School Girls’ Flag Football team is back for the 2026-2027 season and is already preparing for success from their offseason training with other teams, Open Runs, and practices.
On Sunday, September 20th, the Pioneer Charter School of Science, Bishop Fenwick, Excel Academy, St. Mary’s, and Peabody High School’s Flag Football teams joined the third week of open practices.
The morning began with each team in their respective parts of the field warming up by stretching and doing footwork drills.
As Malden waited for the rest of the schools, they started with passing drills along the field in pairs.
After that, the scrimmages began. Malden faced the Excel Wolves first, where Malden strengthened their defense and got into the feel of a real game before the season started again.
After all the schools scrimmaged against each other, Malden coach Danny Sullivan brought everyone to the center of the field for a photo and team huddle to end the third week of Open Runs.
The overall goal of this collaborative effort is to persuade the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) to consider Flag Football a varsity sport and also to have it gain more recognition in general. Coach Sullivan claimed that Girls’ Flag Football is “blowing up,” so the Open Runs are dedicated to sharpening their skills in time for the spring.
Junior Anna Desrosiers, who desires to play flag football in college, hopes to gain “more recognition” and to see outside coaches come watch her and her teammates play in these Open Runs and during the season as well.
In 2025, the MIAA voted against instating the sport, but groups like the Patriots Foundation created clubs to expand the sport’s popularity.
Coach Sullivan shared that the Open Runs positively changed into a “small network” of players that are “sending a message to the powers that be.”
Flag football has only been around at Malden High School for the past year, but since it began, the team has made various accomplishments. In just their first season, they qualified for the Massachusetts State Tournament.
More recently, senior Andriana “Ani” Rangel, sophomore Kaela Vick, and juniors Nyla Ligon-Chambers, Mirka Kovacevic-Marinkovic, Desrosiers, and Harmonie Ortiz, also a Lead Reporter for The Blue and Gold, were invited to the Patriots’ High School Girls’ Flag Football showcase.
Though the season is months away, these Open Runs are more than preparation; they’re also advocating for official recognition. As of right now, there needs to be 27 more schools to turn in a letter from their principal expressing support to sanction the sport.
“Truthfully, I look forward to the growth of the sport more than anything else. I look forward to seeing new faces come and see what flag football is all about. I had about 7-8 girls take a chance on Flag Football last spring, and we’ve been working hard ever since,” Coach Sullivan remarked.
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