TACOMA — Corey Hert didn’t quite know what to expect when he signed on to be the first head coach of the new River Ridge High School girls flag football program.
He and his coaching staff had years of experience playing flag football. But with girls flag football becoming a WIAA-sanctioned sport ahead of the winter 2025-26 season and a Hawks roster full of players who hadn’t competed on the gridiron before, it was anyone’s guess how the campaign would turn out.
River Ridge set a high bar in year one, sneaking into the 12-team District 3 3A Tournament as the 12th seed and winning six games in the regular season, including five in the Puget Sound League.
“With this being the first season for flag football in the state, I hope these girls maybe someday understand how important it is for them to get this far,” Hert said. “They might be a little too young to understand now, but maybe down the road, they will.”
The Hawks’ impressive debut season concluded in the first round of the district tournament in a 35-14 defeat to an athletic Todd Beamer squad at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma Friday night.
Despite the loss, there was no moping to be found on the sidelines. At times, River Ridge showed it deserved to be on the postseason stage, and the Hawks held their heads high.
“It means a lot to me. All of it’s on them,” Hert said of River Ridge’s success in year one. “They did exactly what we asked. We took what we had and battled every game. They learned a lot, and the more they learned, the better we got.”
Todd Beamer, the No. 5 seed in the bracket, scored a touchdown on its first possession two minutes into the game. The Titans’ speed and elusive ballcarriers made a difference early in the first half, as running back Don Kuedituka burst past the Hawks defense for a touchdown to make it 14-0.
River Ridge responded in miraculous fashion midway through the first half. On a Valeria Salazar Gomez throw to the end zone, the intended target Carina Marquez couldn’t quite hang onto the ball, only for Jadyn Dapron to rip the ball away before it could hit the ground and run it into the end zone.
Kuedituka tallied another touchdown late in the first half to give Todd Beamer a 21-7 halftime advantage. River Ridge’s Fernanda Barajas-Orozco came away with an interception to set up a Salazar Gomez touchdown pass to Dapron, cutting the Titans lead to 21-14 with 14:30 left in the game.
But the Todd Beamer defense took over the game, securing three more interceptions in the final 12 minutes after picking off two passes earlier in the contest. The Titans connected on two more touchdown passes to win 35-14 and send the Hawks home.
Dapron finished with six receptions and two touchdown catches, and Silhouette Reed, Barajas-Orozco and Morgan Zoros led the Hawks with four flag pulls apiece.
River Ridge, which had a club program before the WIAA sanctioned girls flag football as a sport, will graduate four seniors — Valeria Salazar Gomez, Jadyn Dapron, Averee McClelland and Samantha Thomas. But most of its starting defense will return as Hert looks for growth in year two.
“What impressed me most was their toughness and their willingness to learn. A lot of them didn’t even know how to play football and didn’t know the rules, but they asked lots of questions,” he said. “We had 26 girls turn out, which is double what I thought we were going to have. They’re always happy. They never got down. They never argued with each other. They cheered each other on.”
Hert said he might install more of a playbook in year two, as the coaching staff kept it “pretty simple” for the girls in their first year. But above all, he wants to continue to emphasize having fun.
“When we had our first meeting on day one, I said that we were gonna make it fun. We’re not gonna have a bunch of drills and monotonous plays over and over again,” Hert said. “I wanted them to have fun and make sure that they come back. I hope that when they’re talking later and they realize how cool this is, I hope it’s something they can take with them for the rest of their lives. I’m proud of them.”
