Chris Booth saw a great opportunity to use his wealth of knowledge to help the North Hills girls flag football team.
Booth, with over two decades of experience in the sport, took over the Indians’ program this season.
“I’ve been playing flag football for 21 years,” said Booth, a linebacker and center. “I’m an eight-time national and world champion. I’ve been traveling around the country and playing.
“I was thinking about (coaching) last year, but didn’t because it wasn’t sanctioned. And then this year, I just started looking at jobs based on teams that I saw with potential last year. That’s what led me to North Hills.”
The PIAA sanctioned girls flag football for the 2025-2026 school year, allowing female high schoolers an opportunity to get involved in a variation of the country’s most popular sport.
Booth, who is from Beachview and went to Brashear, has seen strong early results from the Indians this spring, particularly from the quarterback position.
“We have a quarterback who has ice in her veins,” said Booth of sophomore Emerson Schall. “For a 10th grader, she’s excelling really well.”
Schall was on Booth’s radar before he accepted the job.
“I knew she traveled around and played for another coach in the area,” said Booth. “I saw her, but I saw that there was a lot of opportunity with her fellow players.”
Unlike Schall, many of Booth’s new players were relatively unfamiliar with the game when he arrived.
“We’ve been developing players from the first practice until now,” Booth said. “They didn’t know routes. They didn’t know how to catch. I hate to say it was a trial by fire, but that’s kind of how my first practice was. I told them to run a route and they all looked at me, minus one girl. But we’ve started off really good.”
Through its first four games, North Hills sat at 3-1, with lopsided wins over South Fayette, Seneca Valley and Deer Lakes and a loss to North Allegheny.
“With North Allegheny, we were 1 for 5 in the red zone with three turnovers and two dropped touchdowns,” Booth added. “If we would have capitalized on those, the game would have been better.”
In addition to Schall, senior Sofia Rodriguez has stepped up for the Indians.
“I thought she was just going to be a defensive player,” said Booth of the two-way player. “But she reads the zones really well.”
Megan Holmes and Lily Zickefoose, a basketball player at North Hills, have become reliable targets at receiver.
“Lily has transitioned into playing football really well,” Booth added. “After I taught her to not post up when she tries to catch the ball.”
Booth has large intentions for the program. With the sport being sanctioned — following in the path of other states in the country — and the addition of flag football to the upcoming Summer Olympics, he feels it’s a great time to get the ball rolling at North Hills.
“I’m sitting down with our athletic director almost weekly trying to figure that out and setting up a game plan for them,” he said. “We’re trying to actually set up a camp where our girls are going to help teach the middle school girls and even girls in high school.
“I expect the numbers to jump drastically, especially since we have a good eighth grade class coming in that I hear are very athletic and actually play the game right now. I’m really excited about that.”
And Booth has already felt the support from a community that has a tremendous history and passion for football.
“A couple of people have already noticed me and said, ‘Hey, you’re the girls’ flag football coach,’” Booth said.
“And a lot of the parents are already reaching out for things for next year and opportunities for fundraisers and things like that to be able to let these girls a little bit more in the program since it’s a new one. We don’t have everything that we need. Yet.”