With Jason Kisor’s flag football program, New Breed, perhaps there’s more to the name than just playing at a competitive level.
Flag football continues to be one of the fastest-growing sports in the country, as more and more states add it at a high school level. In the latest NFHS report for flag football, the sport is currently sanctioned in nine states – and Florida has had it for about 20 years – while there are two more states expected to sanction the sport, and 17 more states are in “various stages of pilot programs.”
The FHSAA just had to double its classifications for flag football, going from two to four classes for the 2025 and 2026 seasons. In Classes 1A-4A, there are an expected 387 teams, not including those that will be designated as independent programs.
“It just opens the door for more schools to do it. It’s like a snowball effect,” Kisor said.
“The fact that it keeps growing is great,” said Natalie Busch, who plays for New Breed and is a rising senior at Navarre.
It’s also growing at the collegiate level, as Conference Carolinas – a NCAA Division II conference with schools spread throughout Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia – announced on July 2 that it would be adding flag football as a conference-sponsored sport starting in the 2025-26 athletic season.
Conference Carolinas is the first Division I or II conference to sponsor flag football, and is the second NCAA conference, joining Division III Atlantic East. There are also 24 schools at the NAIA level that support flag football, and 10 NJCAA programs.
“It gives the girls more options. It’s not just one or two schools anymore. Now they can play just about anywhere,” Kisor said. “It just opens the door for these athletes to have more options on where they want to go.”
“We get a head start in front of other states,” said Amaya Pablo, who also plays for New Breed and is entering her senior year at Pace. “Seeing it grow motivates me to keep going. … I’m hoping it gets to Division I soon. I don’t know if it’ll be in time for me to go to college, but I just want to see it at that level.”
And the 12 athletes that Kisor boasts on his girls team – not to mention the other divisions New Breed, which was started in 2012 by Kisor, sponsors for tournament play – you could consider them a “New Breed.” Athletes that are on the ground floor of the sport, and want to get better with every practice, every rep, every extra tournament.
Kisor, who coaches the varsity team at Navarre, has five players from the Raiders on the New Breed girls team. And he also has five players from Pace and a couple from Tate, essentially creating an all-star squad.
And it’s a group that’s preparing for a few major tournaments, including one in Nashville this weekend, and eventually the 2025 World Championships in Tampa in January.
“When you go to these tournaments, that’s where the college coaches are. … That’s how they get girls on their radar. The more tournaments you go to, the more exposure you get, the more it helps you out,” Kisor said. “The more reps these girls get with better competition, it helps their schools out as well. They become superstar athletes and they’re just on a different level than if they were to just stay and play high school for that six-week period. Now, they’re pretty much playing year-round.”
‘This team … they’re hungry’
It’s a pretty quick difference between year one and year two for the girls team of New Breed, Kisor said.
Leading into the first season, “the word wasn’t out there.” So instead of hosting tryouts and picking a group of players from there, Kisor and his coaching staff had around five players and then picked up players here and there.
Now, the program has grown, and has a few superstars already – including Pablo and Busch, who were the 2024 PNJ Co-Players of the Year for flag football. That’s also thanks to the success of area high school programs.
Pace made it to the state Final Four in Tampa, falling to the eventual state champions, Palmetto, 12-6, in the state semifinals. Navarre posted an incredible 15-3 season, falling only to Pace and Choctaw, both teams that made it to the Final Four.
“The word getting out there and girls coming to try out, being able to actually pick a team – instead of getting seven girls just to have a team,” Kisor said. “This team … they’re hungry. All the players are hungry. Now that we bring them together, it’s awesome because they build these relationships and now we get to go after it and try to win a championship.”
“We came back with a lot more players that want to continually get better as a team,” Pablo said. “I think we’re going to be really good this year.”
‘It’s a little rivalry’
Bringing some of the area’s best flag football players creates a mega team of sorts. But when those players get back to the varsity season, it adds to the rivalry that some schools already boast.
This past season, Navarre and Pace split a four-game series, with Pace winning when it mattered most in both the District 1-2A championship game as well as in the Region 1-2A tournament. That’s not to say there’s not genuine support among the teams, however.
“Our whole goal in this area is to win a state championship. I root for all the teams around here – unless we’re playing them obviously,” Kisor said. “Natalie and I, we actually went down to Tampa to watch Amaya play in the Final Four game and we rooted them on.”
While friendships are formed in the offseason, it makes the varsity season fun.
“It’s a little rivalry,” Pablo said. “We’re still friends outside of it all. … “Coach Kisor is a great coach. I love him. He knows how to coach us, and he’s always there for us.
“I’ll give him a side-eye during the high school season, though,” Pablo said with a smirk. “I’ve met so many new people thanks to flag football. … They’re long-lasting bonds for sure.”
Ben Grieco is a sports reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He can be reached on X (@BenGriecoSports) and via email at BGrieco@gannett.com.
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