Imhotep Charter’s new girls’ flag football team is a sign of success for the Eagles’ league
The Panthers in football are a PIAA force in the fall. The girls' flag football team broke new ground by playing its first game.
Imhotep Charter knows how to build a football program. The Panthers won a state title for the second time in school history last fall, and the team consistently makes the state playoffs.
In 2024, Imhotep is building a new kind of football program — a girls’ flag football team. The new girls’ team is one of more than 90 that have been established in the Philadelphia area, part of a growing league sponsored by the Eagles.
On Friday, Imhotep played its first game against Kensington High. The roster has 24 girls after more than 30 tried out for the team.
“All the girls have been excited,” Imhotep coach Stephanie Mack said. “All of them came out; they showed interest beforehand. They really wanted to do it.”
Starting a new team is a huge undertaking, which is where Dan Levy, youth football and community relations manager for the Eagles and the girls’ flag football league, stepped in.
The Eagles’ Girls Flag Football League is supporting 92 teams in its third season, up from 16 when the league launched. It has expanded from just Southeastern Pennsylvania to a second league in South Jersey and encompasses public and Catholic schools.
The team invited schools in the league, including Imhotep, and their players to Lincoln Financial Field for a season kickoff event on March 17.
“We want them to see themselves as Eagles,” Levy said. “ … They get the opportunity to see their jerseys hanging in the locker rooms. They get this opportunity with their friends, with their teammates to run out of the Eagles tunnel, listening to AC/DC, hear their team name announced as they run out of the tunnel, and they have these cool, individualized photo shoots where they can have this memory to hold on to and they can post on their own socials and share with their families.”
» READ MORE: ‘Football is not just a male sport’: The Eagles’ girls’ high school flag football league is breaking down barriers
The Eagles want to eliminate barriers for girls to play flag football in the area. When new teams join the league, Levy helps to set them up with uniforms, a portable field, and other equipment. Each school in the league also receives a $3,000 stipend for girls’ flag football. The Eagles also started an initiative to ensure that every girl in the league has access to sports bras, something Levy said is unique among NFL teams. In 2023, the team distributed 30,000 to its participants, and in 2024, it distributed 30,000 more to all the new teams in the league.
Flag football isn’t an officially recognized sport at the high school level yet in Pennsylvania. Levy said the Eagles’ next goal is to collaborate with the Pittsburgh Steelers to start 100 girls’ flag football teams across the state so the sport can earn official status, and they’re nearing that number now. Girls’ flag football is considered an emerging sport by the PIAA, with 49 schools competing in 2022-23. Twenty-four of those schools were in District 12 and eight were in District 1, the districts that encompass the Philadelphia area.
Including the 41 new additions this year, the Eagles’ league contains 65 teams in Pennsylvania. Levy said that in July, the sport will be up for a vote to become state-sponsored, which would mean the teams can play for PIAA championships and pave the way for every school in the state to offer the sport.
Bringing in schools like Imhotep Charter is huge for the future of the sport in the state, according to Levy.
“That’s a team that we’ve been working with for years on the football side,” Levy said. “We’ve hosted them down here before they go to their state championship games. To see those girls at the Linc was just so much fun. They had so much energy. I follow the new Instagram page for Imhotep girls’ flag football and they’re so proud that they’re the first. I just think it’s really cool that now they can see themselves hopefully in that same light.
“We’re looking forward to naming a girls’ flag football Pa. champion here on June 1 at the NovaCare Complex and you know, maybe Imhotep will be there, and they can share some state championship rewards together. We’re really excited about what that means for the future of the game to have programs like that on board.”
Imhotep didn’t win its first game Friday against Kensington, losing, 12-0. But Mack said the game was a strong launching point for a group of girls still learning how to play their positions. The girls have a ton of enthusiasm and are excited to prove themselves in a sport that was previously male-dominated at the school, according to Mack.
“I’m looking forward to just making sure that the kids have fun, develop their skills, and build a great team,” Mack said. “We’re looking to win, but if we don’t win, that’s OK, too, as long as they can build and develop and get more girls to come out.”