The Rhinebeck High school varsity girls flag football team hopes to continue building its program when it opens the 2025 season at Our Lady of Lourdes on March 31 at 6 p.m.
The Hawks finished 9-3-1 last year with all three losses coming to Saugerties, the third coming in the Section IX final.
The 2025 season will be the third for Rhinebeck’s program. In Section IX, Rhinebeck is one of 15 teams and one of four in Class C, enrollment 600 and below, with Our Lady of Lourdes, Highland and John S. Burke Catholic.
“I think our competitors are going to be stronger this year and I think we’re going to be a strong team,” said coach Nicole Reuter. “With every year the sport grows, each team is going to get better.”
Sophomore quarterback Gwen Dampf, senior receiver Amanda O’Han, senior running back Melkitu Dentico, senior receiver Molly Leary and senior center Gretah Kilmer are among the veterans returning for the Hawks.
“We still have the same core from last year,” said Dampf. “With new freshman and eighth graders, we have the ability to build on that. If we could go that far last year, you could only imagine what we could do this year. I don’t expect it to be easier this year; I think teams our size will get better just like we will.”
The commitment is there. The Hawks have been attending open gyms since October, averaging 15 players per session.
“I just think we have to be committed at each practice and game, which we are,” said Dentico. “We have to be really focused and just play hard each game. It’s going to be a lot of fun; I hope we go far.”
Girls flag football is a growing sport in New York State as the public high school athletic association had state champions for the first time in 2024. The state crowned state champions in two divisions last year and will have three state champions this year.
The sport also is growing at the collegiate level. The Empire 8 Conference in New York just announced it is adding flag football in the 2025-2026 school year, becoming the fifth NCAA conference to have flag football.
The United States will field a girls flag football team for the first time at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
In girls flag football, each team fields seven players and plays two 25-minutes halves on a field 40 yards wide and 80 yards long, plus 10-yard end zones at each end. Each team receives two timeouts per half.
Rhinebeck is hopeful it takes another step in its program’s growth by winning a Section IX Class C title in 2025. The Hawks start the season with four road games before their home opener against John S. Burke Catholic on April 9 at 4:30 p.m.
“I think we’re going to be really focused this year,” said O’Han. “We know that we can make it far because we did last year. I think we have to remember we’re a strong team and we can accomplish big things.”