Gia Mort was nervous about playing flag football for the first time. But the Fox Chapel junior saw the nerves go away quickly. Mort, who also plays basketball, saw a lot of the skills she had were transferable.
“It’s the same skills,” Mort said. “When you are grabbing flags, it’s like breaking down in basketball. It helps to play two sports. It gives you confidence to play a sport with another team.”
The Foxes have mixed together a roster that covers skills across many different disciplines of athletics. Fox Chapel has benefitted with the versatile group that has come out for the sport.
The Foxes improved to 3-1 following a 32-20 win over Mars on March 26. Fox Chapel has some players who bring experience to the table.
Long before freshman linebacker Josie Franchino started playing organized flag football, she played wherever she could find space.
“I started playing in the neighborhood with the guys,” Franchino said. “I started playing travel in middle school. I learned a lot about the sport. It’s challenging and tough.”
Franchino scored the first touchdown in program history. While Franchino said she knows the schedule will get more difficult, she’s happy with how the Foxes have started.
“Obviously, we’ve been handling it pretty well,” Franchino said. “We know that there are better teams that can challenge us more. Our coaches have done a good job of preparing us.”
She also helped bring some people out for the team. Fellow freshman Delaney Drum appreciates that the Foxes will have 15 games to learn the game together.
“I used to run track with Josie. When we were in eighth grade, she told me they were going to sanction it this year,” Drum said. “It’s really nice that we have a big section and a lot of games. We want to build off our start and keep growing as a team. The early games allowed us to dip our toes in the water.”
Mort said that playing receiver has led to different challenges. Understanding the rules was one hurdle to overcome. But there were football basics that needed to be learned as well.
“I feel like the biggest challenge is learning how to catch the ball,” Mort said. “I needed to learn the different roles and how to run routes.”
Fox Chapel was scheduled to play Hampton on April 7.
Franchino said the team will continue to grow as the season goes along.
“I feel like everyone is their own person and everyone is here trying something new,” Franchino said. “We bonded over that. Everyone was comfortable being uncomfortable.”