History is HERstory.

Moanalua and Nanakuli took part in the first-ever high school girls flag football game with officials in Hawai’i Monday night in a contest that was an exciting preview of what to expect in the inaugural HHSAA season.

Na Menehune came away with the preseason victory over the Golden Hawks, 24-12, in a competitive fast-paced game at their home field.

“It’s a great experience, a long time coming and I really enjoyed it,” said Moanalua coach Ladd Mokiao, a veteran member of the flag football community in the state.

“Good showing for Nanakuli and those girls. I know a lot of girls on that side from playing outside league and I coached some of them too. This is a great experience.”

Moanalua junior Zaira Sugui, who completed 10 passes and threw three touchdown passes, is happy to showcase their talents on a bigger stage that they normally wouldn’t get without traveling to the continent.

“It’s an amazing feeling because us girls in Hawai’i finally get that opportunity that the mainland girls have and I think it’s an amazing thing for us because us girls finally get to show that not only boys can do this sport, us girls can also play and ball out.”

Sugui’s primary sport is wrestling, having won the 155-pound state championship in back-to-back years, but Mokiao said she is one of four players on his team that are getting looked at as potential players for the next level.

Other players include senior Kaia Borje-Peeples, a soccer player who had a tackle-for-loss and two quarterback hurries, junior captain Jai’lyn “JJ” Smith on the defensive side of the ball and freshman Jodie Keo.

Keo had the highlight play of the game when she hauled in a 52-yard pass from Sugui that traveled at least 45 yards in the air. She finished the day with a game-high nine receptions and three scores, including the first TD of the season in the state.

“She’s a very great athlete,” Mokiao said of Keo. “She loves the game of sports and her family is actually a water (sports family) like canoe, but she decided to play flag because she loved the sport and look at her now, I really think that she can play with the boys.”

Marisa Lam, a first-time player of flag football, also showed her athleticism coming over as a standout goalkeeper on the girls soccer team. In just one quarter of play, she earned the honor of recording the first-ever interception in a game in the state, then caught a scoring pass down the right sideline after the takeaway before getting her second pick of the day just before the end of the first half.

“She’s just learning the sport but she’s very athletic,” Mokaio said of Lam. “It’s a benefit to have her because she can punt the ball and she’s very fast.”

Nanakuli freshman Shaydenurijah Key-Byrd has the honor of recording the first-ever catch in a game and later scored on a pass from Raezjah Kuhiiki in the third quarter. Junior Carlee Sausi-Callejo led the Golden Hawks in passing with nine completions and also scrambled for Nanakuli’s first TD of the season to tie the game at 6 in the first quarter.

Other standouts for the Golden Hawks include Styralynn Hoakalei who notched the first-ever sack in a game and finished with three, Zoe Unga with an interception on a 2-point conversion and Jur-al Mahoe with seven receptions and three carries.

There are three weeks designated as preseason contests for the OIA with the regular season opener for all 24 teams starting on Tuesday, March 25. HSRN will broadcast the double-header at Roosevelt that features McKinley and Kaimuki in the 6 p.m. matchup and Moanalua and Roosevelt in the night cap that day on 95.1 FM and AM 760, presented by Hawaii Pacific Health.

Officially in the books

Monday’s contest also was the first flag football event with officials as they also need to prepare for the start of the regular season.

HHSAA football officials coordinator Matt Sumstine noted that there’s still work to be done in terms of officiating mechanics, but was extremely pleased with the product on the field on day one.

“I think it was just an exciting time to be out here,” he said. “Both Nanakuli and Moanalua just came out here and gave it their all. I couldn’t believe some of the throws I saw — very exciting — and the catches, so these girls are ready to play.

“We’re just getting off the ground here. This is day one. Like I said to the officials, this is day one, month one, year one. We all got work to do, but boy this is just an exciting start.”

Fans accustomed to 11-on-11 gridiron football will notice that flag football is a fast-paced game. While both tackle and girls flag football use 12-minute quarters on the high school level, the clock is in a running clock until the two-minute warnings of both halves.

The clock only stops on penalties and timeouts, like the 35-point mercy-rule running clock rule we see in the second half in lopsided games.

When the game does get to the two-minute warning, normal gridiron football timing rules apply, such as clock stops on incompletions and players stepping out of bounds.

The only “foot” part in girls flag football in Hawai’i this year in the inaugural season is punt situations, although Sumstine noted that some states have adopted kickoffs and scoring kicks.

For Hawai’i, teams start each series on their own 20-yard line of a shortened 80-yard field (not counting the end zones) and will have four attempts to gain 20 yards for a first down.

The PAT situation also involves some strategy. After a touchdown, teams have the option of going for a 1-point conversion from the 3-yard line or for a 2-point try from the 10-yard line.

One key point of emphasis by the officials will be encroachment and offsides penalties. In flag football, because there is no time delay on when defenses can rush the quarterback, there is a one-yard buffer between the center snapping the ball and the nearest defender.

“Because they’re allowed to rush right away, we’re very strict on maintaining that one full-yard buffer on the defense,” Sumstine said.