PHOENIX — The 34th season of Friday Night Fever just kicked off and there will be much more than just tackle football for 12Sports to cover this year as girls flag football is making its debut as an Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) sanctioned sport Tuesday night.
Girls flag football has been a club sport for a few years and last year, more than 30 schools fielded teams. That prompted the AIA to form a committee to explore adding it as an official sport. The AIA made the move to sanction girls flag football last December.
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"We're excited the Executive Board has approved girls flag football as a sanctioned sport," AIA Executive Director David Hines said in December. "We'll have a state championship in year number one. Our hope is to see fast growth of the sports within the membership.
That growth is already being seen as this year, 55 schools in the 6A and 5A conferences will field teams and compete for the first-ever state championships, which will be decided on Nov. 4.
Games will be played on Tuesdays and Thursdays and teams will play 12 games. The playoffs will begin on Oct. 24.
One unique feature of girls flag football in Arizona will be placekicking. Arizona is the only state where kickers will be part of flag football teams.
The 34th season of Arizona's #1 and longest-running high school football show, Friday Night Fever, continues this week and we have two polls for you to vote in.
First is our Week One Hot Shots Play of the Week poll. We picked the top three plays from last Friday's action and now it is up to you, the fans, to decide the winner. Click here to watch the plays and vote.
We also need your help deciding the Game of the Week for Week Two! Click here to check out which games were nominated and vote for the game you think should be the Game of the Week!