The way Pasco-Hernando State College coach Madison Burr sees it, his women’s flag football program is on the ground floor of a potential boom.
Only three Florida junior colleges currently play the sport on the intercollegiate level. Pasco County high schools are wrapping up their first season offering the sport and Hernando County schools started offering the sport in 2023.
“I see it growing big time,” said Burr, who starred in football at New Port Richey’s Gulf High School and Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., before playing for the Tampa Bay Storm in the Arena League. “You’re seeing a lot of youth league flag football. It’s really just getting started on the high school and college levels. But you’re going to see it grow quickly and you’re going to see a lot more high schools and colleges offering it and that will help it really take off.”
Burr and the Bobcats made their initial foray into flag football as a club team in 2024 as recently-retired PHSC athletic director Steve Winterling laid the groundwork for the transition to intercollegiate play this season. With flag football onboard, the Bobcats now offer intercollegiate play in seven different sports. PHSC joined Florida Gateway College and Daytona State this year as the first three Florida junior colleges to offer women’s flag football. The Bobcats completed their inaugural season over the weekend.
“We have 15 scholar-athletes a year and they get their tuition and their books paid for,” Burr said. “It’s a great opportunity for these young women to come in and further their education and have fun playing flag football.”
Although the Bobcats went 1-16 this year, Burr said the inaugural season has been a relative success. The season was knocked off course before it even started. Burr said several potential players left PHSC after they were forced to relocate due to Hurricanes Milton and Helene last fall.
“We’ve had to play with a smaller roster and most of our players have had to play both offense and defense,” Burr said. “It hasn’t been easy, but we’ve improved tremendously from our first game to now. We’re getting our name out there and we’re only going to grow and get better.”
The PHSC roster has a strong Hernando County influence with four players from Weeki Wachee High School — sophomores Victoria Gray and Ashlynn Masters-Wertin and freshmen Abigail Pasmore and Jasmine Randazzo. The Weeki Wachee pipeline started when Gray reached out to Burr to inquire about playing for the Bobcats. As Burr was doing his homework on Gray, he reached out to Weeki Wachee coach Billy Hughes, who sang Gray’s praises and also gave the PHSC coach Masters-Wertin’s name as a potential recruit.
That helped establish a relationship between the two coaches and Pasmore and Randazzo enrolled at PHSC last fall. “Victoria and Ashlynn played on the club team last year and they’ve shown a lot of leadership this year,” Burr said.
The two freshmen from Weeki Wachee have stepped in and formed the nucleus of PHSC’s passing game. Randazzo was expected to come in and contribute mostly as a wide receiver. But the player Burr expected to play quarterback left the school and the coach turned to Randazzo to lead the offense.
“Jasmine had to make a very quick transition to quarterback,” Burr said. “But she’s stepped up and improved very rapidly. She’s throwing the ball very well now.”
And Randazzo’s main target has been Pasmore, who has doubled as a wide receiver and defensive back. “Abi leads us in receptions and receiving yards,” Burr said. “She also has been great on defense and leads us in interceptions.”
Randazzo and Pasmore figure heavily into Burr’s plans for next year and they’ll be joined by at least one more recruit from Hernando County. Burr said Nature Coast running back/linebacker Charlotte Brady has committed to PHSC. Burr said he also is actively recruiting one more player from a Hernando County high school.
“We’re recruiting from North Florida to South Florida and I’m also looking at a few players in Georgia,” Burr said. “But there are lots of good players coming up in Pasco, Hernando and Hillsborough Counties and we want to keep getting as many of them as we can.”
The season was capped off by two Bobcats — sophomore Peyton Knettel-King from New Port Richey and sophomore Carolyn Parker from Ocala — being named to the All-Florida College System Activities Association team.
