Plainview-Old Bethpage girls team seeking flag football repeat

Meet the girls of the gridiron. Flag football has become an explosively popular high school spring option for female student-athletes on Long Island, as one program is already seeking dynasty status in the newly introduced sport. The ladies of Plainview-Old Bethpage, who took home New York’s first state-sanctioned title last year with a mighty 20-0 record, are pulling out the stops to reign as back-to-back champs.

“Winning has been the most fun,” senior rusher and wide receiver Emma Heaney, who scored two touchdowns in a Wednesday night opening win over Syosset, bluntly told The Post. “We just want to take states home again, definitely,” added Heaney, who will play basketball next season at Lafayette. This year, however, the task will be tougher.



Nassau County has added five new schools due to high demand in what’s now the league’s fourth season, said coach Alec Abramowitz. “It’s awesome to see, even as a coach. .

.. As much as it stinks that other teams are getting better, this is what it’s going to take to grow the sport,” said Abramowitz, who has about 40 girls split between the Hawks’ varsity and JV squads.

Lara Glasser — a senior playing quarterback, wide receiver and linebacker — is floored to see all the ground gained since first joining as a ninth grader for the inaugural season. “It was just this little program that didn’t really have that much traction. Not many athletes came out,” she recalled.

“Now it is definitely posing a threat to softball, lacrosse and track. ..

. It’s become really prominent now across Long Island.” Option play When Glasser was in ninth grade, the school allowed spring athletes to play a sport in addition to flag, but the year after, everyone had to make a choice.

Glasser initially split her spring between track and the football field. She chose to stick with the seven-on-seven league because “there’s just something different about being on a team sport.” Heaney, who joined as a sophomore with several other friends from the soccer and basketball teams, felt similar.

“I feel like it’s opened up a lot of new doors ...

we’re all [multi-sport] athletes, and this is something that we really are good at and like to play,” Heaney said. “So I’m just really grateful that we have the opportunity.” It’s a good thing they all signed on because the Hawks won a regional championship in Heaney’s first year before bulldozing into the state title a season after.

Glasser, like Heaney, said that chasing wins in a competitive field is fueling the team’s passion and camaraderie — they even watched the Super Bowl together in February. “It became so much fun because we really bonded like a real team,” Glasser said. The replacements Senior safety and wideout Rachel Ganz is already thinking about the next generation.

“Seeing a lot of the younger kids get interested in it, and having people come to our games and looking up to us, it’s definitely very cool,” she said. Like her coach, Ganz also knows to take nothing for granted this year. “We know it’s going to be a challenge because there are a lot of new teams — and every team is going to give us their best game since they want to beat us,” she added.

That’s why Abramowitz is turning up the heat at practice, running intense drills and has taught signal-calling to his predominantly senior team — a core bunch that led to the school’s first state title since 1983 last year. Nevertheless, one big year isn’t enough for these hungry Hawks. “Repeating would be the perfect ending to everything,” Glasser said.

“I know Emma is continuing to play sports after high school, but for the rest of the seniors, none are. So that would be the best way to end our athletic careers.”.