Tiburon girls tackle new territory with flag football

Tiburon residents Lauren Van Dusen (left) and Juliet McNamara spearheaded the effort to create Redwood High School’s inaugural girls’ varsity flag-football team. They join five other teams in the Marin County Athletic League, with their first game at home Sept. 8 against Novato. (Ted McDonnell / For The Ark)

Redwood High School students Lauren Van Dusen and Juliet McNamara were watching this year’s Super Bowl at Lauren’s home when a commercial caught their attention.

In the “Flag 50” ad, a female flag-football player runs down the field under stadium lights. She dodges, leaps and twists her way past the opposing players, finally dashing into the end zone as the crowd crescendos into a roar. The ad concludes with the words: “Let’s make girls’ flag football a varsity sport in all 50 states.”

The ad resonated with the 16-year-old Tiburon residents because they were in the midst of campaigning to start a girls’ flag-football team at Redwood, where both are juniors.

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