An illustration depicts the varsity flag football team taking a flight to Baltimore, Maryland from Oct. 3-6. Varsity flag football head coach Cherrelle Pass scheduled the team’s first game of the 2024-25 season in Baltimore, Maryland against Urbana High School on Oct. 5. “It’s going to be important to go up there and prove that we were worth playing and we’re a good competition,” varsity flag football wide receiver Sadie Miller, a junior, said. “We (need to) put our name on the map as a flag football team who is really good and has the potential to go to state.” Illustration by Kimberly Sanabria-Amaya.
The varsity flag football team will take a trip to Maryland from Oct. 3-6 to play their first game of the 2024-25 season against Urbana High School.
When Clarence Swain, a football coach at Kenwood High School in Maryland, reached out to Clarke Central High School varsity flag football head coach Cherrelle Pass asking about flag football, he brought up the idea of having CCHS scrimmage a team near him. Of the 10 schools Pass contacted in the area, one agreed: Urbana High School in Baltimore.
The team will take a trip to the state from Oct. 3-6, beginning their season with a game against UHS on Oct. 5. During their time in Maryland, the team will also tour Johns Hopkins University and varsity flag football assistant coach Taylor Pass’s alma mater for football, Morgan State University.
“I’m really excited. It’s gonna be fun to play in a new scenario (and) a new stadium,” CCHS varsity flag football wide receiver Sadie Miller, a junior, said. “This isn’t just for fun (though), this is a business trip. We got to take care of business, play our best in the game, and then we can explore and have fun.”
Each player was required to pay $250 out of the $650 total cost for the trip with the chance to fundraise the remaining balance. In total, the team raised over $22,000 and Miller herself raised $1,202, which she credits to the motivation from opportunities such as pieing coaches in the face on Sept. 9.
“If we got $1,000, we got to pie Coach Pass in the face (which) was very motivating. That’s a pretty big opportunity, no one ever gets to pie her (in) the face, so it’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Miller said.
“This isn’t just for fun (though), this is a business trip. We got to take care of business, play our best in the game, and then we can explore and have fun.”
— Sadie Miller,
CCHS varsity flag football wide receiver and junior
However, Pass has another goal for this trip aside from beating UHS. She hopes to convey to her team the gravity of what flag football has become.
“We want to show what kind of athletes are down here in the south and definitely show what we’ve been doing these past three seasons. It’s a business trip, we’re there to take care of business but (also) to enjoy the fruits of our labor (and) to know that this is a growing sport,” Pass said.
