Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)

Something to smile about

Flag football coaches give athletes who lost their season a chance to play

- By Ray Brewer This story was posted on lasvegassu­n.com at 2 a.m. today.

When it was determined that the high school girls’ flag football season this winter would be canceled because of the pandemic, Shadow Ridge High coach Matt Nighswonge­r immediatel­y got on the phone to contact his players.

They had been mostly apart since the outset of the pandemic last year, but were hopeful that practice and games would resume. Delivering the news was painful, and “many of the girls, especially the seniors, were emotional,” Nighswonge­r said.

There’s still a chance that prep sports traditiona­lly contested in the fall and spring seasons will be played with truncated schedules when school resumes in person, but the winter sports of basketball, bowling, girls’ flag football and wrestling were casualties.

Those sports were proposed for early January, and there’s simply not enough weeks remaining in the school year to squeeze in all three seasons.

But Nighswonge­r and his coaching colleagues came up with an alternativ­e solution in a 10-game club season, which started last week at All American Park in northwest Las Vegas and features about 250 girls. Players wear face coverings on the bench (and some do on the field), and social distancing standards are stressed.

“It felt like the first real thing we’ve done in 10 months,” Nighswonge­r said of the games.

Club sports played outdoors are permitted to be contested at this stage of the state’s reopening, which gave the coaches the green light to launch their league. It has no affiliatio­n with the high school, meaning the Shadow Ridge Mustangs are called the Southern Range Warhorse — same school color and mascot concept, but distinctly different.

The league is about more than winning and losing. It is also a celebratio­n of competitio­n for the area’s small but dedicated girls’ flag football community. The sport started in 2012 in the Clark County School District and has become so popular that it’s contested on varsity, junior varsity and freshman ranks.

Flag football is also in its infancy at the collegiate level, with about 20 NAIA universiti­es beginning programs and awarding scholarshi­p money. Shadow Ridge senior Kenzie Murdoch will play at Cottey College in Missouri, for instance.

The need to get game experience and highlight film for potential college opportunit­ies was another reason for starting the club league, Nighswonge­r said. But, he stresses, that was a secondary concern.

What is most important is the well-being of the teenagers. After months of being away from friends because of remote learning, having a team to be part of was invaluable for the mental health of the players, the coach said. Some desperatel­y needed the recreation of attempting to score a touchdown.

Others needed that fist-bump after a good play, postgame talk and good laugh. Mask on or off, simply competing was exactly what hundreds of Las Vegas-area girls needed to return a smile to their faces for a few hours.

“The kids are saying that practice is their favorite part of the day and week,” Nighswonge­r said.

ray.brewer@lasvegassu­n.com / 702990-2662 / @raybrewer2­1

 ?? PHOTOS BY WADE VANDERVORT ?? A player from the Southern Range Warhorse junior varsity team carries the ball during a flag football tournament Monday at All American Park.
PHOTOS BY WADE VANDERVORT A player from the Southern Range Warhorse junior varsity team carries the ball during a flag football tournament Monday at All American Park.
 ?? ?? A player on the AAP Diamonds congratula­tes another team member for scoring a touchdown.
A player on the AAP Diamonds congratula­tes another team member for scoring a touchdown.
 ?? ?? A player from the Desert Storm team tries to pick her way through three defenders during the tournament Monday.
A player from the Desert Storm team tries to pick her way through three defenders during the tournament Monday.
 ?? ?? A player on the AAP Diamonds has her flag swiped during a game Monday.
A player on the AAP Diamonds has her flag swiped during a game Monday.
 ?? ?? A player from the Desert Storm tries to avoid having her f lag taken.
A player from the Desert Storm tries to avoid having her f lag taken.
 ?? ?? The Southern Range Warhorse junior varsity team warms up.
The Southern Range Warhorse junior varsity team warms up.

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