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The fall of 2024 will see the inaugural Charles Henderson High School girls flag football season.

The Lady Trojans flag football team will be coached by LaKenya Knight, who also coaches the girls basketball and cross country teams at CHHS. Knight said that she played flag football herself as a child, but starting up the program at CHHS came as a byproduct of offseason workouts for her basketball team.

“It’s one of the things we did as far as conditioning with the basketball team,” Knight recalled. “The girls were loving it and (assistant principal Angelo) Wheeler came down and suggested we do a flag football team. So, I just decided to jump on board and I’m excited about it.”

CHHS recently had tryouts for the flag football team and the roster for the inaugural season will include a number of athletes from other sports. The roster will include Ericka Young, Kayla Perry, Kyla Martin, Jada Jones, Aderian Greenwood, Reece Garrett, Ava Stone, Teasheiona Pennington, Gabrielle Jackson, Addison Key, Kamari Stroizer, Zakandria Scovil, Addison Armstrong, Eavie Kate Lindsey, Payton Ousley, Emma Sutherland, Gracie Lowery, Aneriya Siler, Ansley Watkins and Emma Neff.

Knight was especially excited that female athletes at CHHS will have one more opportunity for a sport.

“The more sports we have for females the more it makes the school grow and the students grow,” Knight emphasized. “They become more confident about themselves and it’s another step in getting everyone at Charles Henderson involved and gives them something else to look forward to.”

Knight said that the first season is all about having fun.

“We want to be successful but the No. 1 thing is to make sure everyone has fun and we get this thing off the ground and make it enjoyable for everyone,” she said. “That’s our top priority. With most of our girls being in other sports, we want to try to use this as a bonding experience for all of our sports.”

Charles Henderson will compete in the 1A-5A classification in Region 2 alongside Brewbaker Tech, Carroll-Ozark, Emmanuel Christian and Northside Methodist. The Lady Trojans will play six games in 2024 – with the schedule to be finalized in the coming weeks – and the season beginning in September.