This fall, Castilleja welcomed a new sport: flag football. Over the past year, many high schools throughout the country have added flag football teams for girls. Inspired by this trend, previous Director of Athletics Mary Jo Pruitt introduced the idea, and seniors Sophie Profit and Camryn Nuckles showed Pruitt that many students were interested in forming a flag football team. In spring of 2024, Pruitt reached out to English teacher Matt Callahan, the current coach, to ask for coaching help.
This year’s varsity flag football team is coached by Matt Callahan, Steve Rochlin (also a football coach at Paly), James Hall and Steven Lai. Callahan and Lai primarily focus on offense, while Rochlin and Hall are more defensively minded. The captains are Violet Yick, Noor Maraqa, Cali Scolnick and Nola Doorley, all juniors in the class of 2026. The flag football team itself is quite large, with a roster of 29 players.
Layla Gallon ‘26 leads the team, averaging 81.3 receiving yards per game and having a total of 12 touchdowns scored this season. Karlie Gabriel ‘26 leads the team in rushing, averaging 63.2 yards, and quarterback Taryn Johnston ‘27 has thrown for 1234 yards this season. Johnston has thrown 12 touchdown passes. They have a record of five wins and 8 losses overall.
Practice drills typically consist of a dynamic warm-up followed by game-specific drills. The remaining time is dedicated to scrimmaging, usually around 50 percent of the practice. These drills include flag-pulling exercises and passing/route running lines. An important factor for success in flag football is game IQ, which is taught through whiteboard and film analysis. The team also has a dedicated strength and conditioning day, normally held on Tuesdays.
The team is currently working on building their confidence and intensity at the beginning of games. Callahan says that the team “tend[s] to come out a little bit tentative…[they] don’t always commit right away, especially on defense…Getting them to trust themselves from the start…comes with intuition.”
Adding to the sentiment of having challenges due to being a younger program, Maraqa says, “I think that this season has definitely had its ups and downs. I think that it’s really hard being a new team especially… in a more obscure sport where most of us have never played football before…and I think that it’s been just a really big season of learning and testing things.”
Some highlights from the season so far have been the team’s retreat, bonding activities and of course, winning! For retreat, the flag football team spent a night in Santa Cruz, after a tournament during the day. New traditions were established, with Johnston describing one: “We have to buy four sparkling apple ciders from Safeway, and then you pour them into 28 cups, and then everyone has to drink or big ones…It signifies…coming together and…winning, so just like how other people have popping champagne bottles, we have not really popping sparkling cider.” Other traditions that have been established are ‘W pics’ after wins and a magic juice murder mystery (see Castilleja flag football Instagram account for more).
Senior Night was a success, with the Gators beating Palo Alto High School 24-6 on Oct. 22nd. The two seniors on the team are Lila Cole and Sophie Profit. Profit was injured and could not play but cheered from the sidelines, while Cole played both quarterback and receiver for parts of the game. The 13 freshmen on the team organized a fun first senior night for the team, which included dancing and food.
When asked about her hopes for next year, Johnston said, “Developing the skills we’ve already established and working on the ones that we have to work on. And for next season, I hope we can come out as a much stronger team, and there will be more time for everybody.” Callahan added, “It’s like taking the solid foundation that we already have and growing it.”
The Gators are approaching the end of their season. Their last game is on Tuesday, Oct. 29 against the Priory Panthers.
