Nearly three years ago, the Federated Council of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) voted 146-0 for flag football to be a sanctioned sport for high school athletics across the state . The vote came with a goal in mind to not only offer a safer alternative to tackle football, but for female athletes to get involved.

To this day, its impact has certainly been felt by Orestimba High School’s athletics. Through three seasons, the Warriors have won 74.3% of its overall games and have only gotten better through each season. Orestimba won back-to-back Trans-Valley League titles and finished with a program best record at 24-3 overall last season.

While the team has fallen short in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV postseason, it’s clear that the buy-in from the players and coaching staff has led to success for the program since joining the TVL in 2024.

“The girls have been great in coming out and being involved in really working hard for this program,” said John Labno, Orestimba’s athletic director and the program’s head coach. “The support we’ve gotten from other coaches on campus, from the district, even from the community. It’s been fantastic.” 

How did the program form?

While it may seem straightforward on how to build a program, it was far from that for Orestimba. As the school had already planned to integrate the sport in the 2023-24 academic year, some of the discussion was centered on how many athletes were interested in participating.

More than five months before the CIF vote, Orestimba held its annual powderpuff game. The event consists of female students participating in a flag football match, while male students cheerleading on the sidelines. Following the annual game in Fall 2022, one student felt inspired to take action in petitioning for the sport to be added sooner rather than later, Cynthia Hernandez.

Hernandez is currently a senior at Orestimba and was on the team this past season. As a freshman at the time, she said that she felt connected with the players as if they were teammates for multiple seasons. Having found out that the event only happens once a school year, she was in disbelief.

“I just felt a feeling of happiness, and it was just an amazing feeling that could not just be described [as] having that team connection, having so much fun, and finally being able to play a sport that I’ve only ever seen on TV,” Hernandez said. “It kind of made me sad that it was only a once a year type thing.”

Having heard multiple players wanting for the sport to happen, Hernandez later spoke with the school’s vice principal, at the time, in late 2022 about the demand for a flag football team. During the meeting, Hernandez presented research about the sport and the NFL FLAG, the league’s flag football program. One of the pieces of information mentioned was how the CIF’s San Francisco Section began sponsoring the sport in 2012, 11 years before it became sanctioned statewide.

After presenting the information, the vice principal was all in favor of the idea and recommended Hernandez to speak with Labno. Labno, who was working with Then-Principal Justin Pruett about adding the sport, recommended her to continue the petition and to reach out to CIF San-Joaquin Section Commissioner Mark Garrison.

She later sent an email to Garrison on Dec. 5, 2022, voicing her and other female student athletes' support for the sport. Garrison told her she was one of several athletes who contacted the CIF SJS office about the sport, Hernandez said.

Later on, Cynthia decided to spread the word about a flag football program. Whether it was approaching her peers or talking to other students while playing flag football during lunch, she ended up getting seven students to sign the petition on Google Doc with their names and phone numbers. One of those students was Warriors quarterback Hailey Starr.

Upon receiving the petition, Labno was surprised by the amount of students signing, and later began a school-wide petition, Hernandez said. “If it’s just not us that wants it, why not be the starters of having it to motivate other schools,” she said.

Head coach search and scheduling conflicts

Following the CIF’s approval of the sport in February 2023, Labno didn’t want to “get behind the curve” in planning the season. However, he would later deal with two obstacles: finding a head coach and building a schedule.

By the end of 2022-23 school year, Labno spoke with four different candidates. But two months later before the program’s inaugural season, there was no head coach. With much uncertainty of what could happen, Labno decided to take over the role.

“We got to August, and nobody was willing to do it, I said, ‘I’m not gonna let this happen,’” Labno said. “I had a bunch of girls, by that time, who were there all summer and were interested in [playing] and there was no way I’m not going let that happen.”

Leading the helm of the program comes with understanding the offensive and defensive plays, and for Labno, his only experience playing the sport was organized football with friends and family. As he navigated his new role, Louie Dominguez and Pablo Flores stepped in after Orestimba’s football morning practices to assist Labno with playcalling later in the day when flag football held its summer workouts and practices.

“Louie helped me a lot with drawing plays and stuff, and kind of giving me ideas as far as football goes. But, I guess an old dog can kind of learn new tricks,” Labno said. “I was happy with the fact that I did get to learn some new things, and I think it turned out great.”

As the school’s AD, Labno also had to figure out the logistics of scheduling opponents. Orestimba was in its final season as a member of the Southern Athletic League in the 2023-24 school year. Other than Mariposa County High, no other Southern Athletic League school was unsure whether it’ll add the sport, Labno said.

This led to Orestimba playing against Western Athletic Conference team in its inaugural season, finishing with 10-9 and a postseason appearance. Additionally, three Warriors’ players earned WAC All-League honors, Maya Brajas was WAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year, Imelda Beltran was named to all-league first team defense and Starr earned a spot on the all-league first team offense.

The future of the sport moving forward

As the sport continues to grow, it’s already made its way on the international and collegiate levels.

In October 2023, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved flag football as an Olympic sport for the 2028 Olympics Games in Los Angeles. Nearly two years later, NFL players were allowed to participate in the event after league owners approved a resolution in May 2025.

Modesto Junior College will form its first-ever flag football team later this year, according to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, from MJC’s football associate head coach Eddie Abbasi. There will be a class dedicated to training and conditioning. 

Brajas, who is now at MJC, is enrolled in the course with the hopes of making the team, Labno said.

As the program begins its fourth season later this year, it’s fair to say that its impact wouldn't have been felt without Labno’s and Hernandez’s efforts in forming the team.

With her graduation on the horizon, Hernandez hopes to inspire others to be ambitious.