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Girls flag football enters its fourth season in the San Diego Section. Practices began July 31. The 2026 season will conclude with championship games in five divisions Nov. 6-7.
Each division will include 12 teams for 60 total playoff teams.
The sport continues to grow. A total of 54 teams were admitted to the playoffs last year.
The regular season kicks off Aug. 19 with teams permitted 20 contests. Playoff seeding will be done Oct. 24. The final MaxPreps rankings will be used to seed teams into the playoff brackets.
The top four teams in each bracket will receive first-round byes.
More than a dozen states now fully sanction varsity girls flag football. The NCAA is pushing for flag football as an emerging sport for women. That push has led to opportunities expanding in more than 60 programs at the collegiate level, including Southwestern and Grossmont colleges at the local level.
The Metro Conference has had a division champion in each of the three previous seasons: Bonita Vista (Division I in 2023), Mater Dei Catholic (Division III in 2024) and Olympian (Division IV in 2024 and Division V in 2025).
Rewind/fast forward
Bonita Vista rode a commanding 20-0 winning streak into last year’s Division I semifinals before tasting defeat, 18-9, at the hands of fifith-seeded Westview. The Lady Barons finished the season with a 20-1 record.
Don’t be surprised for another run. Bonita Vista appears well-stocked for the upcoming season.
Bracing the defending Metro-Mesa League champions in 2026 are key senior returners Layla Schoen (middle linebacker/receiver), Mia Ramirez (quarterback), Sofia Garay (running back/outside linebacker) and Gabriella Mesa (receiver/outside linebacker) and junior returner Dariyan Wilson (cornerback/receiver).
They bring a haul of accolades with them to the playing field.
Schoen, Ramirez, Wilson and Garay all earned First Team All-Metro Mesa League honors while Mesa ws a second team all-league selection. Furthermore, Schoen and Wilson were bestowed with First Team All-CIF honors while Ramirez was a second team all-section pick.
The numbers? Pretty lofty.
Ramirez passed for 3,206 yards and rushed for 1,038 yards for 74 total touchdowns. She owns a 32-8 record as a two-year starter.
Schoen collected 1,630 total yards (766 rushing yards, 726 receiving yards) and 22 touchdowns (15 receiving scores and four rushing scores). She tallied 136 points scored.
Gray racked up 903 total yards – 627 rushing yards and 276 receiving yards – to go with 11 total touchdowns.
Wilson posted some superb two-way numbers: 18 interceptions and 51 receptions for 868 yards and 14 TD.
Mesa logged 225 rushing yards (two touchdowns) and 49 receptions for 619 receiving yards (10 TD).
The Lady Barons appear blessed in the returning players department.
The team addes newcomers in center Ava Alston and running back/rusher London Spotster.
Understandably, BVHS head coach Larry Schoen has high expectations for this 2026 edition.
“We only graduated three starters from the previous season and have re-loaded with even more talent,” Schoen said. “The path to the Open Division/Division I title will be tough, but the Lady Barons are up to the challenge. We look to get the bad taste out of our mouths with how last season ended. We went undefeated into the playoffs with a 20-0 record and lost in a semifinal heartbreak.”
There’s a lot to like about this year’s team.
“We are led by a group of highly talented and experienced players, starting with Layla Schoen and Mia Ramirez,” the Lady Barons coach said. “Ramirez is one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the county with possibly the fastes legs in the county out of all quarterbacks. Layla Schoen, a true middle linebacker, is one of the most complete two-way players in the country. She does a little big of everything and does it well.
“Dariyan Wilson is a talented ball-hawking cornerback who racks up interceptions and touchdowns on offense. Sofia Garay and Gabby Mesa are also speedy talented two-way players.”
Bonita Vista kicked off the 2026 season with an appearance in the L.A. Chargers/Oakley Invitational Aug. 14-15 where the Lady Barons finished with a more than respectable 2-2 showing with wins over Sierra Canyon (20-12) and Doe Pueblos (13-6) and losses to Edison (13-0) and Orange Lutheran (6-0).
Bonita Vista will participate in two more invitationals: Sept. 11-12 in the MaxPreps Flag Football Showcase and Sept. 19 and Sept. 26 in the Warren Invitational.
The Lady Barons improved to 4-2 with 24-14 and 35-19 non-league victories over Granite Hills and Carlsbad on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. Ramirez pased for 202 yards with five touchdowns while Spotster recorded 61 rushing yards and Wilson had 118 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
La Costa Canyon defeated Mater Dei Catholic, 27-24, in non-league play on Wednesday. For LCC, Lily LeJeune logged 216 yards passing with three touchdown passes, 34 yards rushing and one touchdown Kate Hinkle had 100 yards receiving and two touchdowns. Maya Matthies started as quarterback for the Lady Crusaders.
League play starts Oct. 5.
Lady Eagles
Olympian made history as the first Metro Conference team to win back-to-back CIF titles.
Top returners include senior receiver/defensive back Sophia Ramirez, junior quarterback Alexa Castaneda, junior running back Anderea Villarreal, senior receiver/defensive back Nikayla Flowers and junior linebacker Maliyah Keys.
Castaneda is a three-year starter. She passed for 4,117 yards and 48 touchdowns last year.
Replacing all-world Aubrey Tibayan (3,783 all-purpose yards, 51 TD) will be a big chore.
Villarreal logged 538 receiving yards and five touchdowns last season while Ramirez had three TD catches. Both will look to fill the void.
Impact newcomers include junior running back/linebacker Krisella De Anda Lopez, sophomore receiver/defensive back Emma Macharia and freshman running back/linebacker Kali Smith.
Head coach Micheal Christensen is hoping the magic hasn’t run out yet.
“Coming off of back-to-back CIF Championships carries a ton of expectations,” said Christensen, whose team is off to a 2-2 start. “We have the goal for a third championship but know that is a difficult task. We have never won a league title and that is one of our goals for the upcoming season.
“Olympian Girls Flag Football has established itself as a solid program in the county and we intend to continue with that winning tradition. Even though we have lost some extremely gifted players to graduation, we have a strong JV team that will provide impact players for years.”
San Diego Section Flag Football champions:: A timeline
2023 Season
Division I: Bonita Vista 19, Torrey Pines 0
Division II: Classical Academy 50, Cathedral Catholic 0
2024 Season
Division I: Classical Academy 42, Torrey Pines 20
Division II: Westview 39, Carlsbad 24
Division III: Mater Dei Catholic 25, Scripps Ranch 13
Division IV: Olympian 21, San Ysidro 6
2025 Season
Division I: Torrey Pines 20, Westview 13
Division II: Vincent Memorial 40, Imperial 34
Division III: Mira Mesa 25, Brawley 0
Division IV: Patrick Henry 25, Mt. Carmel 20
Division V: Olympian 25, Canyon Crest Academy 12
