From left, Sacred Heart University flag football player Dayna Mercogliano, Head Coach Catherine DuBois and player Victoria Zurawski. Photo by Gary Larkin

EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY – After playing only two scrimmage games as a team last semester, the Sacred Heart University women’s flag football team will get to actually play games that count starting March 13. And a chance at winning The Betty trophy and an Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) title.

The Pioneers club team, which was only formed last semester, joined 14 other colleges and universities Friday at a Media Day for the New York Jets | ECAC College Flag Football League. The teams were given tours of the NFL team’s locker room, listened to a panel discussion on the growth of the sport from youth and high school beginnings led by Kay Adams former NFL Network Good Morning Football host and were given an opportunity to create content for their team social media feeds.

The inaugural season, which kicks off later this month, was driven financially by New York Jets owner Woody Johnson and the Betty Wold Foundation that donated $1 million. The foundation is named after Betty Wold Johnson, Woody Johnson’s late mother who was renowned for her philanthropic efforts and was a long-time contributor to arts, education and healthcare initiatives in New York and New Jersey.

The team will play 12 games as it tries to qualify for the championship game May 3 at the Jets’ practice facility in Florham Park, New Jersey. The winner will be proclaimed an ECAC champion and recipient of The Betty trophy until the next season. The trophy is named after Betty Wold. Starting next season, the title game will be played at MetLife.

The Betty trophy, named after Jets owner Woody Johnson’s late mother, goes to the winner of the ECAC women’s flag football championship in May. Photo by Gary Larkin

Sacred Heart’s journey to a possible ECAC title starts at 7 p.m. on March 13 against Mercy University at its own Campus Field. For Coach Catherine DuBois, that game seems like a long time coming for her and her players.

“For a professional team to support a growing sport, it really shows how serious they are and how big this sport is actually going to become,” she said.

DuBois, who was a coach at Maloney High School in Meriden prior to being hired at SHU, started out with a bare minimum of seven players in September 2025. The roster has since grown to 27 players, and that was without having played an official game.

“These girls have shown up from Day One. They have worked hard every single day not knowing when their next game is,” Coach DuBois said. “Honestly, it started with Preview Day as a way to get the program to grow. But these ladies they are the ones that made it grow.”

While she was initially a softball coach and player, DuBois was drawn to flag football when Maloney High School started a Powder Puff program.

“It’s been like four years coaching flag football at Maloney,” DuBois said. “It was very informal. We worked with some of the travel teams and played some pickup games on the weekend. Then, this opportunity (at SHU) came along and I said, ‘Yes, I want to be a part of it.’ It’s growing.”

SHU senior and New York Jets fan Dayna Mercogliano of Staten Island, New York, who is majoring in exercise science, says she sees the opportunity to play actual competitive games as a lifetime dream. She has been playing the sport for 15 years in the parks of New York City.

“I love playing flag football at SHU because it has become a community of girls who get together each week and play the sport they love,” she said. “We have players who have been playing since they were little, some who only played Powder Puff and some who never played at all, but everyone comes together and gives it their all.”

Her teammate Victoria Zurawski, a sophomore linebacker from Newtown, New Jersey, who roots for the New York Giants and studies psychology, described how the team grew exponentially last semester.

“A big part of what happened is that we had our original seven and it grew to 10, 11. Then we started to make our Instagram. We had some filming time and made our Reels. Once I posted our first Reel, it went crazy. Our club sports department reposted that and we had so many girls reaching out saying they wanted to join.

Dan Coonan, commissioner and CEO of the ECAC, addresses players, coaches and members of the media on the New York Jets | ECAC Women’s Flag Football Media Day. Photo by Gary Larkin

ECAC Commissioner and CEO Dan Coonan, who was one of four people to sit on the Media Day panel discussion, told his story about how in only seven months the New York Jets | ECAC Flag Football League was formed.

“When I heard the (2028 Los Angeles) Olympics were doing this and I started seeing the NFL was all in, I thought college is kind of late to the party with flag but with youth sports and high schools it is exploding,” Coonan told reporters. “I started looking around and thought this would be another thing for us to tackle. I started reaching out to the NFL organizations. Then, I got a call from the Jets in the process of that. Everyone took my calls on flag football. But no one had the urgency that the Jets had. That was in June.”

The interest for women’s flag football collegiately is only growing, according to Coonan. “We have four committed new schools for next year: Union, Caldwell, Fairleigh Dickinson and Dominican,” he said. “We have dozens more that want to be with us next year.”

In fact, if interest continues and the league grows to say 40 teams in the near future, Coonan believes the league could hold a March Madness-type tournament that could be played in a short timeframe.

The official flag football rules that ECAC will use calls for 7-on-7 competition with no contact, games starting on the 5-yard line, 4 downs to reach midfield, 4 downs to score on a 100-yard field, two 60-second timeouts with two 20-minute halves. So, a full game is generally about 40-44 minutes in actual play time.

The Jets involvement

The New York Jets have spearheaded girls and women involvement in the sport in 2011 when it began to support New York Police Athletic League and the New York City Public Schools flag football leagues. That has grown elementary and middle schools to high schools with the Jets and sponsors such as Franklin Sports company donating money and sports gear to the schools.

“The Jets were the first NFL club to establish high school flag football as an official varsity sport with the PSAL,” said Jesse Linder, New York Jets vice president, community relations. “There are more girls flag team in the PSAL than there are boys’ tackle.”

The Jets have supported 260 teams, including some in Ireland, and have invested $2.5 million to grow women’s flag football, Linder said.

It seems involvement in flag football will only grow for young women on the collegiate level, according to Coonan.

“The NCAA D-I, D-II and D-III all voted to make it (flag football) an emerging sport,” the ECAC commissioner said. “It has the NCAA stamp of approval.”