Marlboro’s Dave Ryden calls it one of the most “unreal” presentations he has ever seen in his 20 years as an athletic director in the Freehold Regional District.
Incoming freshmen Maddie Budveit and Hayley Albert had emailed him ahead of Marlboro’s eighth-grade orientation in January 2025 because they were interested in pitching him on the idea of the high school starting a flag football program in 2026.
Ryden agreed to meet with them ahead of the orientation ceremony to hear them out. Budveit and Albert plopped down a deeply researched report on his desk, as well as a petition with 85 signatures of other girls in Marlboro who were interested in playing flag football for the high school.
“They came in my office dressed to the nines, like they were doing an actual presentation in front of the school,” Ryden said. “The kids did all the talking, and their parents just sat there and didn’t say a word. Pages of statistics and data, you name it, they had it. It was unreal. I was blown away.”
Marlboro freshmen Maddie Budveit (left) and Hayley Albert grew to love flag football after playing in a rec league in middle school. (Photo courtesy of Dave Ryden)
The two eighth-graders had played flag football in a recreation league in Marlboro and were eager to get it started at the high school. They spent hours doing research for their presentation and practicing what to say in front of Ryden, who has known Budveit since she was a small child because her brothers Peter and Matt played football at Marlboro.
“We definitely had to really present well, or it just wasn’t going to happen,” Budveit said.
“There were a lot of other people (Ryden) had to talk to to make it happen, and we knew that coming in, but we had a lot of information with us,” Albert said. “We knew it was a challenge.”
As soon as the meeting ended, Ryden was in contact with Board of Education President Mike Messinger. The only way they were going to introduce flag football was by having programs at all six district high schools — Marlboro, Colts Neck, Freehold Boro, Freehold Township, Howell and Manalapan.
Considering the Freehold Regional District has had a moratorium on adding new sports for years due to budgetary constraints, the girls received the best possible answer they could have hoped for from Ryden that night.
“I said, ‘I’m not saying yes, but I’m not saying no,’” he said. “I told them I had to look into it.”
Finding the Funding
Budveit and Albert stayed on Ryden when they began their freshman year in September, checking for any updates.
“We knew it might not have been possible, so we were open-minded where if it just didn’t work out, it just didn’t work out,” Budveit said. “But we definitely emailed him and tried.”
While the enthusiasm and groundswell of support were there, the most crucial element had yet to be solved.
“I said, ‘How are we going to do this?” Ryden said. “I challenged them to find the funding.”
The district did not have money in the budget for it, so it would have to come from an outside source. Luckily, one of them was only a phone call away for Albert.
Brian Friedman, the chief operating officer of the New York Jets, is a Marlboro resident. Albert said her father is friends with him.
“I reached out personally and set up a meeting,” Albert said.
The NFL and its individual franchises have made a major push to support the growth of flag football across the country. The Jets, New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles have all donated money to create new programs or support existing ones across New Jersey. The Jets also announced a $1 million donation in 2025 to start the nation’s largest women’s collegiate flag football league in the Eastern College Athletic Conference.
Friedman helped facilitate a $30,000 grant from the Jets — essentially $5,000 per school — to support programs being established at all six Freehold Regional District high schools.
The efforts of Budveit and Albert had paid off.
“The ball went rolling from there,” Ryden said. “Everyone got funding, we got equipment from USA Football, and we got uniforms from the donation (by the Jets). It’s been unbelievable since we started it.”
Getting It Off the Ground
The grant from the Jets came through in November 2025, and the schools had the necessary equipment by December, according to Ryden.
The district then approved all the coaches across the six schools together so that all the new programs were on the same timeline. The Jets also sponsored a clinic for all the new coaches.
Each of the six new programs held tryouts and limited their roster to a maximum of 22 girls per team. The current freshman class, many of whom played flag football in middle school, makes up a big chunk of many of the teams.
Most of the players are multi-sport athletes. Albert is a basketball player, while Budveit plays volleyball and basketball and also is a high jumper on the track team in the spring.
Head coach Dan Cooper has Marlboro off to a 2-1 start in its inaugural season. (Photo by Scott Stump)
“You’re at the beginning of something, and you’re starting to see growth and excitement,” Marlboro head coach Dan Cooper said.
Four of the six teams have already gotten their first win in school history this spring, although some of them have been one Freehold Regional District team beating another.
In its first game as a program, Marlboro beat an established Shore program with a 26-14 win behind Budveit, who is the team’s starting quarterback. Albert is one of her targets at wide receiver.
“Going to Shore, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the girls showed up, balled out and made big plays,” Cooper said.
“Getting the win against the Shore really brought our confidence up,” Albert said.
Marlboro celebrated a win over Shore Regional in the first flag football game in school history.
A team that only existed in Budveit and Albert’s imagination barely over a year ago came out and won its first game. District rival Colts Neck then beat the Mustangs 28-25 on Tuesday for its first win as a program.
Budveit and Albert smiled afterward when they were reminded that the game against Colts Neck wouldn’t even have existed without their efforts.
“I’m proud,” Albert said. “It feels good. I know a lot of other girls who are happy that it’s a sport now.”
The Mustangs then moved to 2-1 with a 7-0 win over district rival Freehold Boro on Thursday.
Securing the Future
The NJSIAA membership is voting in May on whether to add flag football as an official varsity sport in the spring of 2027, complete with state playoffs. Girls will no longer be able to play multiple sports in the spring like they can now if it passes, as they will have to choose one or the other.
The fast-growing sport is also becoming more of an avenue for girls to play at the next level. Albert and Budveit may be able to look back in four years and know they helped their peers secure scholarship money to go to college.
“I’m happy that all these girls are having a chance to do that as well,” Budveit said.
The next hurdle is securing funding for the long-term existence of the six new flag programs. The money from the Jets was a one-time, $30,000 grant, so going forward, the teams will have to raise money to pay for the program themselves since it’s not in the Freehold Regional District budget.
Ryden cited programs like the district’s Regional Ice Hockey Association and the Manalapan boys lacrosse team as models to potentially emulate in flag football. They raise their own money to support the teams.
“The money from the Jets is a one-time grant, and then we are basically starting a parent organization, and they’re going to run it,” Ryden said. “They will have to come up with funding, possibly through fund-raising or a little bit of a fee. We’re still building that out and looking at the other models in the district.”
When the teams look back years from now to see how it all started, they can thank a pair of precocious eighth-graders.
“We’re excited because we love it,” Albert said. “It feels good to know we are making a difference.”
Scott Stump is the football editor and a reporter for Shore Sports Insider. He first started covering Shore Conference football in 1999 and has covered basketball, baseball and seemingly every other Shore Conference sport at some point.
Email: scottstump25@gmail.com