{"id":35888,"date":"2024-09-13T04:58:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-13T08:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=35888"},"modified":"2024-09-13T04:58:01","modified_gmt":"2024-09-13T08:58:01","slug":"coatesville-student-is-neumanns-first-flag-football-recruit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=35888","title":{"rendered":"Coatesville student is Neumann\u2019s first flag football recruit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Coatesville\u2019s Kayla Maisch in her Neumann University uniform.<\/p><\/div>\n

Coatesville\u2019s Kayla Maisch has made history at Neumann University. She is the school\u2019s first flag football recruit.<\/p>\n

Neumann first fielded a flag football team during a one-day tournament in the spring of 2024, but the young women on that squad had enrolled before flag football became an official club sport. Not so with Maisch. She was among dozens of high school girls who were recruited by Assistant Coach Matthew Lawson and the first to say yes.<\/p>\n

Lawson scouted a game at Coatesville Area High School, where Maisch played, and told her about Neumann\u2019s new team. After doing some research, she was sold.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first time playing flag football was in my senior year, and I really liked it,\u201d she explains. \u201cI decided I wanted to play in college. After I met Coach Lawson and found out that Neumann had my major, I thought \u2018This is perfect.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawson couldn\u2019t be happier with Maisch\u2019s decision. \u201cHer level of play on the field, along with the positive attitude and support she was giving to her teammates on and off the field, greatly impressed me. After her visit to campus, I knew she would be a great fit for not only the flag football program but the university as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old pre-engineering major played wide receiver for Coatesville\u2019s team, which finished its first year of competition with a winning record.<\/p>\n

She admits that she has always loved playing football. \u201cI like the fast pace, the running, and making long catches. When the quarterback hits you perfectly in your hands, it\u2019s so satisfying. I like pulling flags, too. That\u2019s what I\u2019m good at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maisch is looking forward to the first game, a Homecoming Weekend match on Neumann\u2019s turf field against the College of Staten Island on September 28 at 6 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeumann doesn\u2019t have a football team, and most colleges have a homecoming football game. I think it\u2019s cool that the flag football team gets to debut at homecoming,\u201d Maisch says.<\/p>\n

With the endorsement of and financial support from the NFL and RCX Sports, the Atlantic East Conference is set to begin its first full season of flag football in the spring of 2025 with six teams participating: Centenary, Eastern, Holy Family, Immaculata, Marymount, and Neumann.<\/p>\n

The initial Atlantic East flag football games occurred in a four-team tournament on April 13, 2024. Immaculata defeated Neumann, 13-7, at Draper Walsh Stadium in Malvern before the Knights regrouped to win the consolation game against Centenary, 32-0.<\/p>\n

The sport has spiked in popularity in recent years, and Pennsylvania legislators are expected to approve it as an official PIAA high school sport in the coming months.<\/p>\n

Flag football is similar to the NFL game with some key differences: a shorter field (70 yards), seven-on-seven play, and no offensive or defensive line players. Instead of tackling, players in possession of the ball are downed when an opponent removes a breakaway flag from their waist belts.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coatesville\u2019s Kayla Maisch has made history at Neumann University. She is the school\u2019s first flag football recruit. Neumann first fielded a flag football team during a one-day tournament in the spring of 2024, but the young women on that squad had enrolled before flag football became an official club sport. Not so with Maisch. She […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[568,3912,12685,12686,3657],"class_list":["post-35888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-coatesville-area-high-school","tag-featured","tag-flag-football","tag-kayla-maisch","tag-neumann-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35889,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35888\/revisions\/35889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}