Colquitt County High adds flag football for fall

Published 2:10 pm Thursday, March 2, 2023

MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County school system has added another opportunity for its female students to participate in a competitive sport.

The school board last Monday approved the addition of flag football to its roster of sports.

Kirk Woodall will be the coach of the first team, which will begin play this fall.

Last season, the first day for practice was Sept. 19 and first day games could be played was Oct. 6. Those dates for the 2023 season have not been released yet.

Woodall said a grant from the Atlanta Falcons has helped the school system begin the flag football program.

Woodall said he is looking forward to building the new program and hopes to be able to add a female assistant coach soon.

GHSA allows a five-day spring practice and Woodall said he will use that time, scheduled for early May, for tryouts and assessing players’ abilities.

It has not been decided where the games will be played. It could be on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium or on the field at the high school inside the track.

Woodall said he anticipates having 20-25 players on the roster. He said he has already heard from a number of female students who are eager to participate.

“One told me, ‘I’m a Packer. I want to pay ball,’” Woodall said. “The interest is here. We just need to do a good job of promoting it to our young ladies.

“And as coaches, we are teachers. and our job will be a lot of teaching this year.”

Woodall also plans to reach out to the Moultrie YMCA and the Moultrie-Colquitt County Parks and Recreation Authority to coordinate programs and expects to add an eighth-grade program next year.

Teams are allowed to play two games a day if they are against different teams and Woodall said he envisions jamboree settings where a number of teams meet in the same location to play two different opponents.

He expects the first Lady Packers flag football team to play 12-15 regular-season games.

Games are played on fields that are 80 yards long and 40 yards wide with 10-yard end zones. Each team will have seven players on the field.

The game includes two 20-minute halves.

The first 19 minutes of each half are played with a running clock. The final minute of each half is played like it is in regulation football.

There are no kickoffs. The ball is put in play on the 14-yard line to start the game and the second half.

Halftime is five minutes.

There is screen, rather than contact, blocking and Woodall compares the game to soccer and basketball it that regard.

All players wear belts with three flags attached and are eligible to catch passes.

After each touchdown there are three extra-point, or try, options. A successful try from the 3-yard line is worth one point; from the 10-yard line, two points; or from the 15-yard line, three points.

Following the try, the ball is put in play by the opponent of the scoring team on its 14-yard line.

Woodall said that flag football is growing in the state.

The Georgia High School Association has sanctioned flag football for several years and December 2023 will mark the fourth year it has conducted state championship games.

This year’s title games will be played Dec. 12-14 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

The 246 schools that will play next season are divided into three divisions, with 74 making up Division 3, which will include the state’s largest schools.

Colquitt County will play in Division 3’s Area 1 along with Camden County, Dougherty, Lowndes and Valdosta.

The top four teams from each area will advance to the 32-team state tournament, with first- and second-round games scheduled to begin on Monday, Dec. 4.

Quarterfinal and semifinal games will be played on Thursday, Dec. 7.

The Division 3 state championship game will be played at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 14.

Woodall, a graduate of Campbell High School who played football at Wingate (N.C.) University, is in his fifth year at Colquitt County.

He worked as the defensive line coach at his college alma mater from 2008-2010 and since coming to Moultrie has served as the ninth-grade football team’s head coach for three seasons and is currently the junior varsity baseball team’s head coach.

“As a coach, you want a chance to build something from the ground up,” Woodall said. “We hope to have a similar footprint that football has here. We know what kind of support there is. We’re Colquitt County. We expect to be successful.”