![\"Esperanza](\"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-06-at-8.06.24-AM.png\")
<\/a>Esperanza High\u2019s flag football team started off strong with an undefeated record in the first month of the season. Going into October, the team is ranked 3rd overall on the MaxPreps flag football rankings<\/a>. There are a total of 33 athletes playing on the school\u2019s varsity and junior varsity teams. The Orange County Register recently published an article about the team’s success, which reads in part: “The more diverse the student-athlete, the better. That\u2019s one of the strongest themes that has catapulted Esperanza\u2019s girls flag football team in the national rankings and to an Orange County-best 17-0 record. The Aztecs\u2019 roster is comprised of several players from the school\u2019s highly successful softball and girls basketball programs, along with a few others from soccer, water polo and golf.” Coach Jimmy Valverde is best-known as Esperanza\u2019s girls basketball coach, though he also has coached baseball.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n View Esperanza High\u2019s flag football schedule and current standings here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At Valencia High, interest in the sport was immediately apparent. Chemistry teacher Brady Bilhartz volunteered to head up the program, as he has experience coaching his daughter\u2019s flag football team. The school held an initial meeting last spring, and more than 80 prospective athletes attended. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In July, Coach Bilhartz put on a summer camp alongside assistant coaches Leina Howard, a biology teacher at the school, and Zach Johnson, a Valencia alumnus. \u201cThe girls proved to be hard-working, dedicated, athletic, coachable, and excited for the opportunity to make history as Valencia High School\u2019s very first flag football team,\u201d wrote Coach Bilhartz.<\/p>\n\n\n The camp rolled right into the start of the season, and 36 athletes joined Valencia\u2019s varsity and junior varsity teams. Enthusiasm for the sport has spread throughout the community as parents, teachers, and fellow students continue to attend the games in large numbers. View Valencia High\u2019s flag football schedule and current standings here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n At El Dorado High, 32 athletes are participating in the sport across the junior varsity and varsity teams. Ray Elliott, the Athletic Director at El Dorado, is encouraged by the team\u2019s fantastic performance in the season thus far. View El Dorado High\u2019s flag football schedule and current standings here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n Yorba Linda High has 26 athletes playing on their varsity-level flag football team. “It’s exciting to have Women’s flag football as an official CIF sport,\u201d says Dr. Richard Dinh, the school\u2019s principal. \u201cThe games have been fun to watch and truly showcase the players’ dedication and the joy they bring to the field. The future of women’s flag football is bright at Yorba Linda High School.” View Yorba Linda High\u2019s flag football schedule here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The growing excitement surrounding the addition of flag football is a testament to the importance of including girls in athletics. The district is proud to support our high schools as they work to further girls’ involvement in our excellent athletics programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following the unanimous vote to officially sanction girls flag football as a California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) sport, this fall marks the inaugural season of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":25199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1177,15],"tags":[17,146,13,144],"class_list":["post-25150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-high-school","category-school-district","tag-el-dorado-high-school","tag-esperanza-high-school","tag-valencia-high-school","tag-yorba-linda-high-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"