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More than 800 girls participated in flag football this year.

Credit: Atlanta Falcons

The finalists have been determined for GHSA’s first Flag Football Championships, which will open the three-day parade of title games at Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium.

Schools competed in two divisions this season – Class 6A-7A and Class A-5A – as the sport was sanctioned for the first time by the GHSA. Other classifications will likely be added when the sport begins to draw widespread participation around the state. This is the same process that fast-pitch softball and lacrosse went through when it was introduced. Flag football was treated as a club sport the last two years and schools from six counties participated.

The Class A-5A championship game will be between Portal and Calvary Day. It will begin at noon.

The Class 6A-7A championship game will be between West Forsyth and Hillgrove. It will begin at 1:30 p.m.

Both games will be televised by GPB.

In the Class A-5A semifinals, Calvary Day of Savannah defeated Northside-Columbus 14-12 and Portal defeated Greenbrier 12-6.

In the Class 6A-7A semifinals, West Forsyth defeated South Forsyth 13-7 and Hillgrove defeated Allatoona 12-0.

The semifinals were conducted at the Home Depot Backyard field adjacent to Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Players and coaches from both sides are sold on flag football and are happy the sport was introduced. The games are 7-on-7 and are non-contact. There is no tackling, but the other football fundamentals are the same.

“I'll be honest, when I first started coaching this, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into,” West Forsyth coach Mike Pruitt told Jacob Smith of the Forsyth County News. “But when I got out here and met some of the girls I saw the competitiveness in them."

Navaeh Hamilton, who plays for Calvary Day, told Dennis Knight of the Savannah Morning News, “It’s hard to compare flag football with basketball, but this game meant everything to us. It had that atmosphere of a big game, and we had the energy and adrenaline flowing. We were chasing after that win and we got it. We have a great bond as a team, and now we want to win a championship.”