We Speak Flag Football
First Power Four Program, First Family Hire: Liz and Katie Sowers Take Over Nebraska Flag Football
Hours after the NCAA voted flag football into its Emerging Sports for Women program in January, Nebraska announced it would launch a varsity women’s flag football team — the first Power Four school to do it. In February, the Cornhuskers made the hire to match the ambition: Liz Sowers as head coach, her twin sister Katie Sowers as associate head coach.
Liz Sowers built the dynasty at Ottawa University in Kansas: an 88-8 record, five consecutive NAIA national titles, five straight KCAC championships and three KCAC Coach of the Year awards, with rosters recruited from 17 states and four countries. She was defensive coordinator of the 2023 U.S. women’s national team that won continental gold while allowing the fewest points in team history, and she head-coached the USA 17U girls to a junior national gold in 2022. As a player, she was a seven-time First-Team All-American.
Katie Sowers brings an NFL résumé — she coached with the Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs — and served as head coach of Italy’s women’s national flag team in 2023-24.
“This is the start of a new era, and we intend to set the standard,” Liz Sowers said. “It’s an honor to lead the first flag football program at Nebraska, and even more meaningful to build it alongside my twin sister in a place with such deep tradition.” The sisters started June 1, and Nebraska — the university’s 25th varsity sport — is slated to begin competitive play in spring 2028, the same season the NCAA’s first championship is expected.
We Speak Flag Football
Alabama Runs Deep: Undefeated Moody, Central and Montgomery Catholic All Sit in the National Top 15
If you want to find the center of the high school flag football universe, check Alabama. Three Alabama programs sit in the USA TODAY Super 25 national rankings — and the state’s No. 2 team hasn’t lost in 30 games.
Moody (17-0) is the streak story of the fall. The defending AHSAA Class 1A-5A champions picked up their 30th consecutive win this week, are ranked No. 7 in the Super 25 and No. 8 in the MaxPreps national rankings, and recently outscored three opponents 146-0 in a single week. Sophomore Sophie White put up 472 all-purpose yards and seven touchdowns in one doubleheader. The Blue Devils’ title DNA is real: last December at Protective Stadium, quarterback Serenity Rutledge threw three touchdown passes — to Zoey Terry, White and Kennedy Hockman — and Cheyenne Moore returned an interception 48 yards for a score in a 27-18 final win over Montgomery Catholic.
Central of Phenix City (11-2) is Alabama’s No. 1 and the nation’s No. 5, powered by Savannah Sevier, who recently stacked 301 yards, four touchdowns, six flag pulls and four pass breakups in a single week. Montgomery Catholic (12-1), ranked No. 15 nationally, is right back in the hunt behind senior Hayden Fitts, who ran for three touchdowns and threw for another against Spain Park.
With Spain Park, Vestavia Hills, Boaz and Brewbaker Tech also ranked in the state Super 10, Alabama’s playoffs this winter might be the toughest tournament in the country.
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