Fox Chapel freshman Josie Franchino helped the Foxes make the WPIAL playoffs during their first season. She has been picking up experience for several years on a club team that has achieved a national ranking.

Franchino plays for the Pittsburgh Flag Football League Ladies of Steel flag football team, which is coached by Dennis “Shor D” Wolford, who also coaches Pitt’s women’s club flag football team, Brashear’s flag football team and the Carrick football team.

Recently the team played at Valley Forge, while last month team played in Ohio.

“We started in the fall of 2022,” Wolford said. “It’s crazy because when we first started we should have been playing 12U, but we were playing 14U when we started off. It gave us good experience.”

In April, the Ladies of Steel won the Pittsburgh Steelers Regional and will represent the region in the high school division.

The national tournament will be played from July 23-26 in Westfield, Ind., and will feature teams representing all 32 NFL teams.

The Ladies of Steel team features players from all over the WPIAL and City League. Talia Block and Shira Levy both play for Allderdice, which won the inaugural City League championship over Carrick.

Emmy Schall, who was the MVP at the Steelers Regional, plays quarterback for the team and attends North Hills. Schall’s younger sister, Regan, who is eigfhth grade also plays for the team.

Emmy finished with 2,872 passing yards, including 40 touchdowns. Dior Ellis, who played for Seton LaSalle, is also on the team. She scored 16 touchdowns through the Rebels’ first six games.

Gia Ginocchi (Mars) and Reese Glass (DuBois) also contribute to the team.

Wolford said this is a young group.

“We still have six kids who are freshman or lower now,” Wolford said. “We are still a young team.”

Wolford said the group has its hopes set on winning the NFL Flag Football Nationals.

“The goal is always to win the NFL flag nationals,” Wolford said. “There will be a lot of good competition down there. Teams that play anybody are going to be there.”

Wolford believes the team is starting to build its reputation with results as the foundation. He wants to keep his momentum up.

“The biggest thing is that we promote the team so people can see and know who we are,” Wolford said. “We’ve been in this thing since the beginning. When we went to tournaments before, they may say we don’t want to play this team or that team. Now, it’s at a point where other teams have to worry about playing us.”