With every snap, carry, reception and touchdown, girls across central North Carolina made history last week.

Girls’ flag football made its debut as a sport sanctioned by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Wednesday. Local teams, especially those that played the sport at the club level in recent years, finally got the chance to start a campaign towards an official state championship.

Northwood got off to a great start as it took down R.J. Reynolds 31-6 and beat Lee County 41-0 in its season-opening double header at home. 

Freshman quarterback Alaina Toomer, who is playing flag football for the first time this season, ran for three touchdowns and threw for two scores against R.J. Reynolds. 

“I was a little nervous,” Toomer said. “I think I finally got the hang of it after a couple of plays.”

Senior Tiffany Monroe finished the season-opener with two of the Chargers’ three interceptions. Junior Noelle Whitaker and senior Abby Sullivan each caught a touchdown pass against the Demons.

Northwood took its first loss of the year to Apex 35-12 Saturday. The Chargers immediately bounced back with a 19-13 win over Southern Durham later that day. 

Freshman Ava Vernon scored three touchdowns against the Spartans.

Last year, Northwood won a championship in a league with Seaforth, Jordan-Matthews, Southeast Alamance and Eastern Alamance. The Chargers returned numerous key players from that team.

“They got one year under their belt, so they’re kind of used to what I want them to do,” Northwood coach Fred Whitaker said. “I feel pretty confident about what I got this year.”

Southern Durham split a double-header to start the year, beating Garner in its first official game 13-7 and falling to Cardinal Gibbons 32-7.

Riverside, last year’s Durham Public Schools Conference champions, was dominant in its first two games Thursday. The Pirates defeated Triangle Math and Science 54-0 and Durham School of the Arts 40-0. 

Durham School of the Arts also fell to Triangle Math and Science in a 7-6 overtime thriller. 

Jordan lost to Apex 28-0 and fell to Green Level 6-0 to start the year.

After an 18-0 season-opening loss to Southeast Alamance, Jordan-Matthews defeated Asheboro 20-6 Wednesday. 

The girls’ flag football season will continue this week. The regular season will finish near the end of October, and the playoffs will begin on Oct. 31.