MOORE — From Hobson to Hamilton, flag football is gaining floor throughout Montana.
Just final fall, 17 colleges fielded girls groups. This 12 months, that quantity has climbed to twenty-eight, due to 11 extra applications funded by grants from the Arthur Blank Family Foundation.
WATCH: Hobson-Moore launches flag football team
Hobson-Moore launches Central Montana’s first girls flag football team as sport spreads statewide
One of these new applications is Hobson-Moore — a co-op of two small Class C communities with a mixed enrollment of 59 college students that misplaced their boys football team this fall.
Low numbers pressured the Titans right into a co-op with Lewistown, leaving the girls flag football squad as the one gridiron team competing beneath the Titans identify.
“I just think the football, you know, is important in both these communities,” head coach and Hobson superintendent Hugo Anderson stated. “And then with these girls, you know, just having been around them and coached them in other sports as they’ve grown up. Just thought they’d be really good at football and enjoy the game.”
The Titans drew 15 gamers for his or her inaugural season, with many juggling volleyball or cross nation alongside football.
“We’re going straight from one practice to another right after school, so it’s a lot, but it’s pretty fun. And it gets a little tiring,” stated freshman Aaliyah Eike.
The team is younger — just one senior, no juniors, and an eighth grader at quarterback. That has made for a steep studying curve. But after attending a clinic in Bozeman hosted by the Atlanta Falcons and getting collectively all through the summer time for open discipline alternatives, the Titans are displaying progress.
“I think we’re all starting to understand it a little bit more,” stated senior Lauren Deegan. “Of course, like routes and things, we understood football, but not what to do when you’re actually playing it. So I think that was probably the hardest part, was understanding what you’re supposed to do and what your job is.”
For eighth grade quarterback Andi Anderson, the possibility to guide a brand new program has include added duty.
“We all like the pressure, you know, to kind of do good,” she stated. “This is our football team. You know, since our boys didn’t have one this year.”
The Titans have added their very own aptitude to the gridiron, sporting bedazzled mouthguards as a team bonding venture.
“Just a team bonding thing,” Eike stated. “We all thought it was a good idea to get pink mouth guards and then glue rhinestones on it.”
Though inexperienced, the Titans proved their pace of their dwelling opener, defeating Roundup 25-6. With bigger colleges on the schedule, they’re keen to check themselves additional.
“Athletically, feel like our girls can compete with anybody,” Anderson stated. “Of course, we’ll find out in a couple weeks. We get to a AA school when Missoula Hellgate comes. So, you know, we’ll see.”
Deegan added: “We’re fast. We might be a little bit small, but we’re fast and we’ve got—we’re very competitive. We are ready to go out and play.”