Catch This!
West High girls grab the chance to play flag football in its debut season
“OK, girls. This time let’s throw a Fade,” Coach Steve Nieto calls out to a group of girls during a recent flag football practice. “Everyone in position.”
Quarterback Shay Leavitt, a senior, is alert and ready. Crouched in front of her, the center snaps the ball as coach yells, “1, 2, 3. Step — Throw!”
Just like clockwork, Shay clasps the ball and takes three steps back before launching it down the field to the receiver. That’s when Macy Wegner, also a senior, begins to run. She watches Shay’s throw fade through the air and reaches out her arms to catch and cradle the ball in her arms.
“Great catch, Macy!” Steve yells. “That was a 28-yard throw, wouldn’t you say, Shay? Good job! That’s how you play flag football, ladies.”
Flag football is being played at West High for the first time this fall. Though it started in Montana three years ago with just three high schools, it has rapidly grown to 28 schools across the state. School District 2 now offers the sport and West, Senior and Skyview are all participating in the Class AA division. Lockwood is in its second season playing in Class A.
Steve Nieto, West High’s head flag football coach, comes with a background of 33 years coaching, including ten years of football and nine years of softball at West. As the father of three athletic daughters, all of whom attended West, the idea of coaching flag football had great appeal.
“This is an opportunity to coach flag football for the first time in West High’s history,” he says. “It’s just a matter of time before it really catches on and it will be fun to be part of that excitement.”
When the first informational meeting was held in early June, 45 girls showed up to learn more. Eager to be part of something never offered before, Shay and Macy, along with fellow seniors Amarah Jefferson and Irelynn Reeve were in the crowd. When the four attended a clinic along with their teammates at Bobcat Stadium in Bozeman hosted by the Atlanta Falcons, their excitement grew.
Coached by Falcon football players, including former Montana State University Bobcat Troy Andersen, the clinic taught the fundamentals of flag football and helped coaches learn how to best launch and develop a team. It solidified the girls’ decision to play for West.
“It was such a great opportunity,” Amarah says. “Playing on the field really helped me to understand the game. And being coached by professional football players was amazing!”
Irelynn is the only teammate that came with flag football experience. She started playing intermural flag football during her freshman year when she lived in Las Vegas. When she moved her junior year to Montana, learning the sport wasn’t offered was disappointing.
“My dad literally taught me how to catch a football weeks before I started playing flag football,” Irelynn says. “I just love the game. It’s exciting and fun and a great way to meet new friends. I was super excited when I heard it was coming to West.”
The team is a mix of girls from all kinds of sports backgrounds. Some are on the track team, others play volleyball, softball and basketball. There are also girls on the field who have never played a sport before.
“We each bring something special to the team,” Shay says. “You don’t have to be the fastest runner or have the best throw. This is a game of strategy, thinking, and planning how to get down the field.”
By summer’s end, the team was whittled down to around 35 players with each girl learning multiple positions.
“This isn’t like coaching boys’ football,” Steve says. “I had to make changes in terminology and really explain plays for the girls to understand. I told them, don’t be afraid to stop me and ask for clarification.”
Instead of yards, he uses steps. Three or four steps is an approximate yard. Plays are named after things the girls relate to: Caitlyn Clark, Love Island characters and affectionately, the names of the coach’s three daughters.
In July, he and his assistants put together two teams to participate in the Big Sky State Games where they competed against East Helena, Lockwood and Three Forks.
“I told them — it’s not about winning — just play,” Steve says. “The girls competed and battled, and one of the teams took second.” They lost to a team that had already been playing. “So it’s pretty telling what we can do and how to improve going into this season,” Irelynn adds.
Several former West High athletes — four girls’ softball players and several football players, now playing at the collegiate level — stepped up to help volunteer coach over the summer. A catcher from the softball team helped the centers with squatting positions. An outfielder offered ideas on how to run down field while still keeping an eye on the ball. A former football receiver taught the girls how to catch the ball without corking their fingers.
“We’re all learning together,” Macy says. The majority of our players are underclassmen, so it’s an opportunity for us seniors to not only be leaders in the game, but to set the standard for years to come.”
“The biggest thing I’ve learned,” says Shay, “is that even if I throw a good ball and the receiver doesn’t catch it, or I throw poorly and the receiver catches it, we need each other. We’re a team. No one person can do it all.”
The Atlanta Falcons will help fund the program through grants over the next three years. The hope is, by then, it will be a sanctioned sport. It’s currently considered an emerging sport and is classified as an activity. If enough schools pick it up, it will be sanctioned.
“There are three million youth playing youth flag football in the U.S. and that’s a pipeline going north,” Steve says. “With more experienced players, playing at the high school level will be more popular. Some colleges are offering scholarships and by 2028 it is on track to be an Olympic sport.”
As the season unfolds over the next month, feelings are bittersweet for these seniors playing their first and last season for their school. They hope that they will have contributed to the beginning of a great legacy at West High.
“We’ve built a sense of community and we’ve found our places on the team,” Shay says. “But, most of all, we’re having fun.”
