At Grayson High School, the expectation is to win.

After turning on to the aptly named road, “Champions Way,” state championship banners of former Rams’ teams are boldly highlighted upon entering the school. One of Grayson’s newest squads hopes to bolster the program’s pedigree even more.

Grayson flag football, led by fifth-year head coach Jacob Parker, is well in the mix to add another state title for the school.

Coming off a program-best 17-win 2023 campaign, the Rams will lean on its veteran roster in hopes of becoming the first Gwinnett County team to hoist a state championship trophy in December.

“We’re really excited about this season,” Parker said. “I’ve been able to see these girls put in the work over the past few years and continue to get better and better. Now I’ve got a team with ten seniors on it that are ready to roll. We don’t schedule many ‘down’ teams, so I don’t expect anything about the beginning of the season to be easy for us, but that’s the way I want it. If you want to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best. That’s what we plan on doing.”

Spearheaded by a pair of standout seniors, the Rams vie for a deep run following last year’s first round playoff loss to West Forsyth.

“The absolute rock of this team is Laila Wade,” Parker said. “She plays center, linebacker, and probably a little bit of cornerback when we need it. She’s a lock down defender in man-to-man coverage, and I don’t know if I’ve had better in that center position. She’s special. She’s the only four-year player I have. Laila has a couple of offers to play in college, and I’m very excited to see her senior year and where it goes. Giana Muller is another one of our strong players. She returns as an All-County cornerback last year. She’s one of those ball hawks that’s going to be able to read that quarterback, find the ball, and make big play after big play. I expect even more from those two players as seniors, and I’m very excited.”

Parker has manned the sidelines for the Rams since the sport became GHSA-sanctioned in 2020. Meeting the standard of Grayson athletics, Parker’s teams have been competitive from the start.

“We’ve had the front runner, we’ve had the come-from-behind team, but we haven’t missed the playoffs yet,” Parker said. “We’ve been a top tier program all the way, and I’m pretty proud that we’ve stayed as consistent as we have throughout the years.”

A staunch advocate for the sport since its inception, Parker can point to several contributors for its longevity.

“In the initial season, the Atlanta Falcons brought so much hype to the sport, but it was just Gwinnett County. It hadn’t become a GHSA sport yet,” Parker added. “The publicity kind of wore off and it was more behind the scenes. But what’s been really exciting over the past few years is that it’s steadily grown and matured, and it’s happened in the right way. We’ve gone from 18 schools the first year to now, we’re at four classifications. At Grayson specifically, our first year we had 21 girls try out for 18 spots. Now, unfortunately I have to make cuts because I have 80 girls coming out to try and make the team.”

Among the biggest motivators for young athletes to join a flag team is the possibility of continuing their academic and athletic careers at the collegiate level. In 2020, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) became the first collegiate association to sponsor the sport at the varsity level.

It’s given Parker’s players the belief that it’s not just their male counterparts who will be able to play on Saturday’s.

“It’s exciting to see how word of mouth has helped the game, but to be honest, the biggest thing that has absolutely changed the sport is the introduction at the NAIA level,” Parker added. “I have several girls playing in college, and it makes it so much more exciting to go out in the halls and tell these girls, ‘Look, there’s another path to go to college and get to play this game and have somebody cover some of your tuition.’ … “The sport is definitely growing and in a large part it’s due to the expansion of the college game.”

As much as Parker has enjoyed his team’s success – proven with a 44-20 overall record and 23-4 region mark in his career – the chances the sport has given to the Grayson students trumps it all.

“What I love the most about flag football is that the sport is so unique in that it gives so many girls the opportunity to shine,” Parker said. “In basketball, you’ve got to be able to shoot. In softball, you have to be able to hit or pitch. In our sport, there’s many different skill sets needed to be able to complete a team. It’s been really cool to see the different opportunities for a girl that playing another sport might not give her. Now she’s able to come here and find a home. That’s what I really love about it.”

This week streaming on GPB.org

GPB will again cover flag football each week on its live-streaming platform. This week's games come from Cherokee on Wednesday on GPB.org. The coverage schedule is Cherokee vs. Milton at 5:30 p.m., Milton vs. Cherokee at 6:30 p.m., and Cherokee vs. Sequoyah at 7:30 p.m.

Click here to watch last week's coverage of the tripleheader between Hebron Christian, Buford and Meadowcreek.