Girls flag football enters its fourth season in the San Diego Section. Practices began July 31. The 2026 season will conclude with championship games in five divisions Nov. 6-7.
Each division will include 12 teams for 60 total playoff teams.
The sport continues to grow. A total of 54 teams were admitted to the playoffs last year.
The regular season kicked off this week with teams permitted 20 contests. Playoff seeding will be done Oct. 24. The final MaxPreps rankings will be used to seed teams into the playoff brackets.
The top four teams in each bracket will receive first-round byes.
More than a dozen states now fully sanction varsity girls flag football. The NCAA is pushing for flag football as an emerging sport for women. That push has led to opportunities expanding in more than 60 programs at the collegiate level, including Southwestern and Grossmont colleges at the local level.
On an up note, eight Grossmont Conference teams qualified for last year’s section playoffs with one advancing to the semifinal round: top-seeded El Capitan in Division IV.
El Capitan defeated No. 9 Escondido in the quarterfinals, 25-6, but dropped a 32-7 decision to Np. 5 Patrick Henry, the eventual Division IV champion.
Fifth-seeded Granite Hills defeated No. 12 Scripps Ranch, 31-25, in the opening round but ended its season with a 39-33 loss to No, 4 Vincent Memorial in the quarterfinals.
Third-seeded Helix Charter defeated No. 10 Mission Bay, 27-13, in the opening round of the Division III bracket before absorbing a 27-13 loss in the quarterfinals to No. 6 Mira Mesa, the eventual division champion.
Sixth-seeded West Hills blanked No. 11 Montgomery, 24-0, in the first round but lost 27-6 to No. 3 San Diego in the quarterfinals while No. 7 Valhalla outlasted No. 10 Oceanside, 20-9, in the first round before ending its season with a 20-6 quarterfinal setback to No. 2 Olympian, the eventual Division V champion.
Santana, seeded sixth in Division IV, lost 19-12 in an upset to No. 11 Kearny in the first round.
San Diego Section Girls Flag Football Champions:
A Timeline
2023 Season
Division I: Bonita Vista 19, Torrey Pines 0
Division II: Classical Academy 50, Cathedral Catholic 0
2024 Season
Division I: Classical Academy 42, Torrey Pines 20
Division II: Westview 39, Carlsbad 24
Division III: Mater Dei Catholic 25, Scripps Ranch 13
Division IV: Olympian 21, San Ysidro 6
2025 Season
Division I: Torrey Pines 20, Westview 13
Division II: Vincent Memorial 40, Imperial 34
Division III: Mira Mesa 25, Brawley 0
Division IV: Patrick Henry 25, Mt. Carmel 20
Division V: Olympian 25, Canyon Crest Academy 12
Grossmont Conference 2026 Flag Football Alignment
Grossmont HIlls League
Grossmont Hills League: El Capitan, Granite Hills, Grossmont, Helix Charter. Steele Canyon
Grossmont Valley League
El Cajon Valley, Monte Vista, Santana, Valhalla, West Hills
Grossmont Hills League: El Capitan, Granite Hills, Grossmont, Helix Charter. Steele Canyon
Grossmont Valley League: El Cajon Valley, Monte Vista, Santana, Valhalla, West Hills
