By LYNETTE HAALAND, Four Points News
The girls Texas Fury flag football team won the national championship in late January after years of trying. This was no small feat in a COVID year with a sport that’s in its infancy in Texas. Thinking they were going to age out of competitions and not get another chance, last summer changed everything. New opportunities opened up in flag football allowing the team — which has four players from Vandegrift and is led by a local husband-wife — to go for the championship one more time.
In 2018, 2019 and 2020 the girls Texas Fury Flag Football team won NFL Flag Regional tournaments giving them an opportunity to compete at the NFL Flag National Championships at the Pro Bowl. All three years the Fury came up short of their goal of winning a national championship, but this year was different.
With the majority of the team aging out, the Fury leaders thought the program had run its course but in June of 2020, a new opportunity presented itself. National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics had announced that 14 schools would provide scholarships for girls flag football starting in the spring of 2021.
With this announcement, NFL Flag decided to increase the age requirements for youth girls allowing for a 17u division at the upcoming championships. Not only did the NFL start adding additional opportunities, but other organizations started adding youth tournaments for girls.
Hardcount Athletics, the FFWCT and Flag Football Life joined the movement by adding tournaments across the country.
“Momentum had been building for years in the sport of flag football for girls and this is just the beginning. With this exciting news, Texas Fury decided to start back up with a goal to compete at the highest of levels at different events across the country,” said Jason Klam, head coach/defensive coordinator, who leads the team with his wife Amberly Klam, who is team manager.
Texas Fury Flag Football was created in 2018 by the Steiner Ranch residents after their daughter Ashlea had competed in the NFL Flag National Championships for three consecutive years with Neighborhood Sports. The coaching staff for the Neighborhood Sports NFL Flag team called the Steiner Ranch Steelers had decided to step down after winning multiple championships and the Klams thought it necessary to continue providing an avenue for girls to compete at a very high level in a sport that is mostly male dominated.
The Klams along with Keenan Hughes, offensive coordinator, and Kaden Hughes, assistant offensive coordinator, held tryouts in July of 2020.
Their daughter, who is a sophomore, was joined on the team by three other girls from Vandegrift: junior Lauren Clark, freshman Emma Clark and freshman Addie Chilek.
They began preparing for several upcoming tournaments as the Texas Fury Flag Football organization would allow 17 girls to compete in four different divisions.
“Working through this pandemic made it difficult to find tournaments that Texas Fury could travel to considering there are limited opportunities in Texas for girls flag football,” Jason Klam said. “Over the next few months, the Texas Fury girls worked diligently to become a team.”
All of the hard work paid off as the Fury girls won the 14u Hardcount Championship in October 2020; the 15u FFWCT West Coast National Championship in Las Vegas in October 2020 and the FFWCT 7v7 HS National Championships in January 2021.
“Even with these championships under their belt, the Fury girls still wanted to win the much eluded NFL Flag National Championship,” Klam said.
The COVID Pandemic caused several issues when it came to the NFL Flag Championships. The NFL Flag organization made the difficult decision to cancel the Regional Tournaments across the country which did not provide much hope for the Texas Fury Girls.
Fortunately, the NFL Flag organization decided to hold the NFL Flag Bowl Championships in Tampa, Fla. at the end of January 2021. With their recent tournament wins, the Texas Fury Girls were able to register for the NFL Flag Bowl Championships in the 17u Girls Division to compete against some of the best girls flag football teams from around the county.
“The time had come for the Texas Fury Girls to compete in Tampa for the NFL Flag Bowl National Championship,” Klam said. “In the games leading up to the championship, Texas Fury went 5-1 only losing in overtime in their last pool play game — which was game 4 of the day.”
The NFL Flag organization decided to showcase the 17u Girls championship game which was to be played on January 31 as the last game of the tournament. It would be Texas Fury vs SIG Giants from Staten Island, N.Y. SIG Giants jumped out to an early 7-0 lead on the Fury Girls but the Fury Girls would strike back right before half time with a touchdown. Fury missed their extra point opportunity so going into half it would be SIG Giants 7 and Texas Fury 6.
Both defenses would hold firm in the second half but with five minutes left in the game, Fury would get another opportunity.
“Led by quarterback Ava Wallace, the Texas Fury marched down the field converting on a huge third down play to A’Nijah Wilkins. On 2nd down and goal to go, Ava would find Ashlea Klam in the back of the end zone for the go ahead score,” Klam said of his daughter.
Now up 12-7, Texas Fury had to hold on defense to bring home the championship. A relentless rush effort by Clark sealed the deal and when time had expired, the Texas Fury Girls 17u team was crowned champions of the NFL Flag Bowl. Ashlea Klam was named overall tournament MVP for the girls division.
“Texas Fury finished the NFL Flag tournament 6-1, outscoring their opponents 118-27 in bringing home the championship back to Texas,” Klam said.