My7v7 Girl’s Flag State Tournament: My Takeaways and Standouts
MINNETONKA- On Sunday night I was in attendance at Minnetonka High School at the My7v7 Girls Flag Football State Tournament. What did I take away from it? This is one of the top growing girl's sports in the country right now and here in Minnesota it's starting to catch some wind as well. To be honest, it reminds me of how Lacrosse took off over a decade ago in the Midwest. Lacrosse started off as just a club sport and has now turned into a sanctioned sport in plenty of states for both girls and boys. I think girl's flag football has that opportunity to progress similar to that, as the fast pace that it's played at allows it to be played while other sports are present during the season but at the same time, is still waiting for the buzz to come out.
With that being said, these were my takeaways from Sunday's expereince at Minnetonka and I will also dish out some athletes that caught my attention throughout the state tournament.
How It's Played
Some might think that girl's flag football is similar to 7v7 football, however it is not. What I saw on Sunday was 5v5 in which Minnetonka's high school football stadium was split in quarters, so four games could be played at once which if I am a football event promoter, you have to love the little space you need to run a tournament efficently like it was ran by My7v7 football.
The Pace of the Game is Quick
Being that I come from the 7v7 lenses of scouting football, I felt the pace of 5v5 was not only faster but enhanced more athleticism. What I mean when I say that, commonly in 7v7 you see the quarterbacks throw a lot of deep and intermedate routes where as in girl's 5v5 flag football you see more screen routes, flea flickers, and even outside zone as you can run the football in girl's 5v5 flag football (with limations). With that being said, you see athleticism quickly break out in the open field versus the long bomb throws that usually get broken up and slow the game down.
Roster Management Seems Smooth
I felt like rosters were anywhere from 7-10 athletes per team which to me sets up similar to a basketball roster. You saw some teams play their athletes on both sides of the ball and others that had a completed different lineup on the defensive side of the ball from the offensive side of the ball. With this being said, how many independent basketball teams have we seen this state grow over the the last 10 years? That number is absurd and you couljd see more club teams and high school teams grow, last season the Minnesota Vikings partnered for 51 teams to play flag football at the high school level alone.
Nate's Sunday Standouts
Just like I always do, I had my notebook and pen readily available for scouting purposes in which I was able to find a handful of girls that stood out in their first live eval.
Claire Koehnen
Claire Koehnen
Claire was one of a couple athletes from Minnetonka that caught our attention on Sunday with her athleticism. She was certainly a problem for defenses to catch in the open field as she not only was sudden with her burst, she also showed off fluidity from start to finish scoring a couple of touchdowns. Claire also showed off how elusive she could be getting around and especially getting contact yards as the couple games I watched she had a solid chunk of yards after contact. She was another standout on our list that played flag football in the inaugural season last year for a top-tier Mnnetonka squad.
Sophia Bratton
Sophia Bratton
Sophia was the only underclassmen that got onto my radar and to be honest with you, I was very surprised she was just a freshmen based on all the athleticism alone that I saw. Defensively, she could play from sideline to sideline and was quietly instinctive when she would break on the ball in pass coverage which caused a handful of interceptions on the evening. She was just as consistent offensively too as a wide receiver, as she showed off great hands and a sizable catch radius for his age. Sophia played on Columbia Heights flag football team last season as an 8th grader.
Micah Chose
Micah Chose
Micah was another wide receiver in the 2026 class out of Minnetonka that was another intriguing athlete in My 7v7's receiving core. I thought when they would air it out on intermediate routes, she was one of the best pass-catchers that did well finishing thru contact or high-traffic areas. She also was efficent getting a sound chunk of yards after contact.. Micah is one of a few multi-sport athletes for this batc
Josie Martin
Josie Martin
Josie was certainly My 7v7's swiss army knife out of their backfield on Sunday. She played the role of quarterback, however I feel that calling her an athlete is certainly what she showed off as even more. Her vision, elusiveness and springy movement logged plenty of touchdowns on Sunday night at Minnetonka with Josie playing on her home turf. She also was one of the more instinctive athletes with the ball in her hands that I caught at the state tournament. She led the charge for Minnetonka at quarterback last year in the Minnesota girl's flag football league and went 10-0 on one of the top girl's flag teams in the state. Josie is also a multi-sport athlete for the Skippers.
Piper Larson
Piper Larson
If I had to dish out an MVP from Sunday's state tournament it would have went to Piper Larson as her presence was felt on both sides of the ball. She actually did win Defensive MVP for the state tournament and logged three interceptions, but she also showed why she's one of the best quarterbacks surely in the Midwest. She showed off great timing in the bulk of the throws I watched and easily had one of the deepest arms at the state tournament. I scanned last thru some stats from Piper from last spring and found out she logged over 2000 passing yards as just a sophomore and is was on the USA Select Bowl team for 16U a couple months back. Piper is certainly one of the players to watch in Minnesota over the coming years and is a three-sport athlete at Eagan.
