Tualatin's girls flag football team won a state championship on May 16. The sport could become an official Oregon high school offering as soon as 2027.

Girls flag football participation in Oregon grew from 32 schools in 2024 to 47 in 2025 and 58 in 2026, clearing the 50-school threshold needed for a sanctioning vote by the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA). The OSAA reported that the delegate assembly will vote in October on making flag football an official sport starting in 2027.

Tualatin already has a head start. Tigard does not yet field a team. The sport does not appear on the Tigers' official athletics schedule page as of Sept. 25.

If approved, flag football would be the third sport sanctioned in recent years, following girls wrestling in 2023-24 and boys volleyball in 2026. Before those, the last sport added was softball in 1979.

Tualatin's championship run

The Timberwolves won the 2026 OSAA state title, beating South Salem 32-26 in overtime at Liberty High School in Hillsboro. It was only the program's second season.

Senior quarterback Ries Miadich threw the game-winning touchdown to sophomore Sydney Murdick in overtime. Miadich also intercepted a pass in the end zone on South Salem's overtime possession to set up the winning drive.

"I can't wait until they vote for it to be an OSAA-sanctioned sport for sure," head coach Bubba Lemon told OSAAtoday after the May 16 championship.

Lemon also coaches the Tualatin boys basketball team, which won the 6A state title in March. His flag football squad posted six shutouts during the regular season, including wins of 39-0, 60-0 and 41-0, according to Tualatin Life. The Timberwolves entered the state tournament as the No. 5 seed and knocked off No. 12 Sprague, No. 4 Thurston, No. 1 Amity in overtime and No. 3 South Salem to claim the title.

Senior running back Isabella Hernández received more than 20 collegiate offers for flag football and will play at Roberts Wesleyan University in Rochester, New York, according to Tualatin Life.

A growing college pipeline

George Fox University in Newberg announced Wednesday, Sept. 23 that it will launch a women's flag football program in fall 2027, as reported by Your Oregon News. The Bruins will compete as a club for two seasons before moving to NCAA Division III varsity status. George Fox said it is the first D3 school in the Northwest to start a varsity program.

Rebecca Brisson, Liberty High School's flag football coach and Oregon's state rules interpreter for the sport, told OSAAtoday in May that the collegiate scholarship landscape is changing the calculus for high school athletes. "It's now not just going to be something fun to do," Brisson said. "It's like, 'I can do this in college and get my education paid for.'"

Flag football, a 7-on-7 game played on an 80-yard field, debuted in Oregon in spring 2023 with eight teams. The sport will also appear in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

The OSAA delegate assembly vote is expected in October. If sanctioned, girls flag football would become an official Oregon high school sport in 2027.