The advent of girls flag football as a sanctioned sport came with a steep learning curve, but area teams acquitted themselves well right off the bat.
The talent on the 2024 Aurora Sentinel All-Aurora Girls Flag Football Team — which is picked by the Sentinel in conjunction with balloting of area coaches — is plucked from all around the area.
Grandview and Regis Jesuit were Aurora’s qualifiers for the first state playoffs and both were able to pick up a victory in their postseason debuts before second round exists.
— Find the full 2024 Aurora Sentinel All-Aurora Girls Flag Football teams, here
Coach Mark Fisher’s Wolves finished with nine wins (with their season coming to an end with a second round playoff loss to Arvada West) and were helped by some versatile talents such as sophomore Brooke Sullivan.
Sullivan played just about every position on offense, defense and special teams for the Wolves and was an All-Centennial League pick on both sides of the ball.
An all-league first teamer on defense thanks to a state-best 18 interceptions, Sullivan was a second team all-league pick on offense with 2,096 total yards. Of those, Sullivan picked up 1,713 through the air as the area’s most prolific quarterback, even after not starting the season at the position. Sullivan tossed 11 touchdown passes, accrued 270 yards rushing and 113 receiving.
On the other side of the ball, Sullivan had 18 interceptions to lead the Centennial League and averaged a whopping 35.8 yards per punt as a special teams game-changer.
One of Grandview’s top targets was senior wide receiver Tierra Goodgain, who finished easily atop local players with 820 yards receiving. That ranked the All-Centennial League first teamer (who had a total of eight touchdowns to her credit) third in the league.
Another weapon for the Wolves came out of the backfield in senior Kenzie Dodd, the Centennial League leader in rushing with 832 yards. The multi-sport athlete — who also plays soccer — finished with 1,111 yards of total offense (which included 279 receiving).
Defensively, the Wolves — who allowed just over 15 points per game — featured the area’s top tackler in senior Ayah Awada, a first team all-league pick as a defensive back. The steady Awada made 92 stops, got credited with 11 passes defensed and snared a pair of interceptions.
Grandview’s other All-Aurora first team defender was senior Sadie Perry, who played a lot of snaps on both sides of the ball. Perry ranked third among local players in tackles with 78, while she also broke up 14 passes and intercepted eight.
Regis Jesuit had a massive turnout for its team and coach Ben Danecki had a large group of young players on the roster for a team that finished 8-9 after it fell to Mountain Vista in the second round of the playoffs.
One of the young players emerged — freshman Jasmine Lugo — in a big way as a defensive rusher. Lugo racked up 86 total tackles to finish second among city players, but a whopping 37 of those were sacks, which led the Continental League. She was hailed as the league’s defensive player of the year and was the lone ares player on the Colorado High School Activities Association’s All-State first team.
Regis Jesuit gave up the second-fewest points among local teams (14 per contest) with the pressure applied by Lugo plus the tackling prowess of senior Kate Hommertzheim, who racked up 54 tackles, broke up 10 passes and intercepted four (including two that she took back for touchdowns.
The Raiders had some experienced talent on offense as well and averaged 14.5 points per game that was second-most among city programs. Senior wide receiver Catherine Eure performed to a level that earned her All-Continental League second team distinction, as she ranked third among local players with 641 yards receiving (on 69 catches), while she accounted for 60 total points that was second-most in the area.
Among nine touchdowns for Eure was the lone score in Regis Jesuit’s 6-0 win over Grandview in the first official game for both programs, while she added seven interceptions.
The Raiders had another impact freshman in Kaitlyn Buhler, who was a definite asset as a passcatcher, but also on special teams. Buhler averaged 33 yards per punt to give Regis Jesuit a leg up in the field position battle in many contests.
Statistics were unavailable for Rangeview, but coach Eric Mosley’s Raiders were very competitive in their inaugural season with a 10-5 record (best among all local teams) that left them just spot outside the 20 teams that made the postseason.
Young players shined for Rangeview, including sure-handed freshman wide receiver Mia Stanton, who was the lone area player to make the All-City League first team. Stanton was sure-handed when the ball was thrown her direction and elusive with the ball in her hand.
The Raiders allowed by far the fewest points of any team in Aurora defensively (135 or 9 points per contest) with help from freshman Bella Vasquez, who played a variety of roles, but was a difference maker when pressuring the quarterback.
Overland finished 5-6 in its inaugural season, but averaged a respectable 17 points per contest with the help of explosive and versatile juniors Saniyah Vaughn and Lezlee Napier.
Vaughn ranked fourth among area players in total offense with 1,311 yards (708 passing, 603 rushing) with Napier not far behind with 1,71 (645 rushing, 526 receiving). Napier was the area leader in points scored with 82 and Vaughn had 50, which gave the pair a combined 71 percent share of the Trailblazers’ entire point total of 187.
Also in the All-Aurora mix is Smoky Hill junior Kiyah Enoch, a star hurdler who put her athleticism and late-blooming interest in football to work in a strong season. Enoch altered the game in many ways for the Buffs and earned a spot on the All-Centennial League first team after she scored eight touchdowns and two two-point conversions to go with nearly 450 yards of total offense.
Coach Augustine Agyei’s Buffaloes (3-11) have an All-Aurora first team pick on special teams as well in freshman Sailor Roth, who led city players in kick return yardage with 167. To boot, Roth was also her team’s leading receiver and also played a key role on defense.
Vista PEAK Prep sophomore running back Oriah Owens had a city-best 1,034 rushing yards and added 155 more receiving to finish seventh among Aurora players. The All-City League second team pick also tallied six touchdowns for coach Eric Jarmon’s Bison (4-11).
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
