Nutley HS adds girls flag football program this spring

The Nutley High School girls flag football team gathers for its first pre-season scrimmage.

NUTLEY, NJ — The Nutley High School football program has been around for more than 100 years.

This spring, NHS will debut its girls flag football program.

The head coach is Rob Porrino and the assistant coach is Sammy Coppola. Both are assistant coaches for the Raiders football assistant coaches in the fall.

This is the second year for girls flag football by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Last spring saw eight schools having flag football teams, including Irvington and East Orange Campus.

“Our athletic director, Mr. (Joe) Piro, was contacted by the New York Jets with the idea of creating a flag football team and he jumped on the idea,” Porrino said. “From the initial meeting, there was so much interest and enthusiasm from the girls.

“We started our practices the first week of March and have been doing early morning practices at 6 a.m.”

There was a big turnout, as 25 girls signed up to join the team.

Nutley has seven games this spring, five at home at the Park Oval. Interestingly, the home games will be under the lights. The Oval will have permanent lights this spring. Each game will have two, 20-minute halves, in a 7-on-7 format.

The girls are looking forward to the season.

“The enthusiasm and excitement from the girls have been amazing and they are really looking forward to the start of the season,” Porrino said. “I am most excited about seeing how the girls’ interest in the game grows and how they compete on the field.

“I know we have a great group of girls,” Porrino continued. “I am also excited to see what kind of fan support we could have especially for Friday night games in the Oval. The Oval is already an incredible environment, but factor in the intrigue of this new league and team and I think it will just be incredible.”

Seniors Mackenzie Albert and Stephanie Luberto are looking forward to playing girls flag football.

“I’m very excited,” Albert said. “It’s a new sport I’m learning. For me, it’s a new experience since I didn’t know the sport well. So as everyone is learning, I am learning too.”

“I definitely watch football with my dad and my brother, a lot,” Luberto said. “So I kind of already have an idea (of the sport), but it’s a brand new sport to learn in my senior year, which is different. It’s different for all of us, but it’s something that we can learn together and it’s definitely a lot of fun.”

Albert and Luberto were teammates on the NHS girls basketball team. Though football is traditionally a male sport, it can also be a sport that can be played by both genders, they both said.

Though they will only play for one season, Albert and Luberto feel girls flag football will become more popular and grow.

The team will begin the season on Thursday, April 14, at the Park Oval, against Morristown, at 7 p.m.

Here are the other games at the Park Oval. All home games are at 6:30 p.m.