The inaugural girls flag football season in the Sac-Joaquin Section was a booming success.

Nearly 70 teams throughout the section competed after the California Interscholastic Federation’s board of governors unanimously approved flag football to become a fully sanctioned high school sport in the state. Even more are expected to join the party next season.

To celebrate a great first season, capped by section championship victories from Del Oro in Division I and Christian Brothers in Division II, The Sacramento Bee has assembled its first-ever girls flag football All-Metro team.

So, what was our criteria? Input from area coaches and local media, stats reported on MaxPreps, personal observations, playoff success and general bribery and flattery (just kidding). But seriously, we reached out to each area coach asking for nominations — from their team and opposing teams — for players worthy of recognition for overall, offensive and defensive players of the year.

The robust response influenced our final decisions. Many thanks are in order for those who participated and provided feedback.

Co-Players of the Year

Devin and Dana Greer, Christian Brothers, Seniors

The twin sisters from Christian Brothers share top honors as Co-Players of the Year. Devin was named the Capital Athletic League MVP and Dana was an All-CAL First-Team selection for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II champion Falcons.

Already multi-sport athletes before flag football was introduced, Devin and Dana made a smooth transition to the football field. Their father, Darrin, played football at UC Berkeley, and their mother, Dineen, was a cheerleader at Stanford. So sports and grades — both Devin and Dana sport GPAs around 4.2 — are big pieces to the Greer puzzle.

“My dad will pick on me for missing an interception or something,” Devin said. “But at the end of the last game, we were just celebrating. It was just a great family experience for my parents and us.”

Dana, a center on offense and cornerback on defense, also played soccer and was a former league discus champ for the Falcons. She also played club rugby during flag football season.

“Sometimes I’d be a little bit too physical being it’s just flag football,” Dana said of her rugby mentality. “But I think just the mentality you have while playing like this is your job, this is what you’re supposed to do. ... Constructive criticism and building each other up is something that I think really helped us as a team. Even when the coaches kind of can’t see everything, just having two coaches, but as a player on the field, you can see a lot more. Being able to communicate that to people on the field, I think, was really valuable and really helped us go as far as we did.”

Devin has also played basketball, was a leg of Christian Brothers’ Masters championship 4x400 relay team last spring, and is headed to play soccer at UC Santa Barbara.

“My dad played college football, so I was pretty aware of how the rules worked and strategies and stuff,” Devin said. “I just wanted to help the team a lot, and it really paid off in the end. Just working in that team environment really prepared me because it’s a lot of different personalities that you have to deal with.”

Christian Brothers beat previously unbeaten Del Campo 6-0 in the final game of the regular season to win the CAL championship. The Falcons won the game after Dana tossed a rugby-style pitch to Devin for the game’s only touchdown in the final moments.

“Over time, we’ve kind of developed these secret, different looks that we give each other,” Devin said. “Sometimes there were moments where we glanced at each other, like, ‘Oh, pick on this girl. Go at her.’ Or run this way. Or did you see that hole?”

After drawing a No. 2 seed in the D-II bracket, Christian Brothers ran past Orestimba 44-6, Livingston 13-6 and Colfax 7-6 en route to a 6-0 championship victory over fifth-seeded St. Mary’s of Stockton in a defensive battle where each twin contributed. Devin had two of the Falcons’ three interceptions, including a takeaway on the Rams’ opening possession. Dana, meanwhile, caught a 20-yard touchdown pass at the end of the first half for the title game’s only score.

“(We thought) it’d be like a pipe dream,” Dana said. “Well, now we have this banner, and people are gonna look back at the first banner like, ‘Where was it? Who was a part of it?’ It’s pretty amazing to be like, ‘I was a part of that. Our team did that.’”

Twins run in the Greer family. Dana will forever lay claim to being two minutes older than Devin. There is a fair discussion to be had for who was the better football player this season, but Devin will end it with a cheeky grin.

“I’m for sure the better player,” she smirked. “I played everywhere, so I think that just shows how good I am.

“I’m just super glad how much attention flag football got, especially as a women’s sport. I think investing in women’s sports is really important for the next generation of young girls who want to play sports. ... Hockey, football, flag football, baseball, softball, all these different sports that may not get so much representation in the media and stuff in women’s sports. I just want to encourage more people to get out there and watch women’s sports.”

Offensive Player of the Year

Izzy Deveraux, Woodcreek, Junior

Deveraux was spending Thanksgiving break in Hawaii with family when she received the news of being named The Bee’s Offensive Player of the Year, a well-earned vacation for the junior quarterback who led Woodcreek to a 23-1 record.

“It’s pretty awesome,” Deveraux said. “It’s something I’ll always look back to years after my high school experience.”

Primarily a basketball player growing up, Deveraux slung the pigskin like few others could in the section. She attributes her passing ability to tossing the football around with her dad and neighbors growing up. And having longtime friend and basketball teammate Ryan Nair as her primary target helped get Deveraux and the Timberwolves rolling early.

“Me and Ryan have been friends since third grade,” Deveraux said. “Just playing basketball together, we already had that click.”

Woodcreek entered the Division I championship game unbeaten and nationally ranked at 23-0. Despite two touchdown passes from Deveraux, Woodcreek ultimately fell to Del Oro, 14-12.

“We were super confident after we won the first Del Oro tournament (in August),” Deveraux said. “After that, we started thinking this is for real.”

With fellow All-Metro First-Team selections Nair and Amaya Grant returning next season, Deveraux and the Timberwolves should be “for real” again in 2024.

Defensive Player of the Year

Kaia Diederichs, Colfax, Junior

Diederichs is molding a career worthy of being remembered as one of the area’s all-time great athletes. And she’s just a junior. Already a major section championship contributor for the Falcons’ basketball and soccer teams, Diederichs jumped at the chance to play flag football.

“I played a lot with my younger brother. He played flag football in his Granite Bay league,” Diederichs said. “They’d all want to scrimmage against their older sisters, so we played them, and it was fun for us because we’d always beat them. Then we heard flag football was becoming a thing, and those same girls whose brothers played, we got really into that.”

Diederichs led Colfax to a 14-3 record and the Division II semifinals with an astounding 34 interceptions. Head coach Tony Martello has seen his share of incredible athletes as the school’s all-time winningest tackle football coach. Even he was impressed with Diederichs.

“She wasn’t picked on a whole lot,” Martello said. “She averaged two interceptions every game. That’s just unbelievable. ... The funny thing with Kaia is that you wouldn’t know how well she understood things until the games came around. It really became natural for her.”

Diederichs was named the Pioneer Valley League MVP after leading Colfax to the inaugural PVL crown.

“I just think it’s so cool and it proves that our school is right up there with the athletes we have around here,” Diederichs said. “We went undefeated in league and barely let up any points and made it to the semis. That shows the kind of dedication and athleticism we have at Colfax.”

Coach of the Year

Steve Birch, Del Oro

Birch bleeds Del Oro black and gold, so it was only fitting that he became the Golden Eagles’ first flag football coach.

Birch landed at Del Oro in the mid-1990s with stints coaching JV and varsity football, baseball, and girls and boys golf. His oldest son, Andrew, was a four-sport athlete at Del Oro. His middle son, Jacob, was an impact player for the Golden Eagles’ football and basketball teams. And his daughter, Jenna, was a slick-fielding middle infielder for Del Oro and now plays softball at Sacramento State. Even his wife, Jennifer, was a Del Oro female Athlete of the Year in 1991.

Brother-in-law Bill Sherman, a longtime Del Oro golf coach, joined Birch on the flag football staff this season along with girls hoops coach Jennifer Judge, offensive coordinator Daniel Thomas, QB coach Hunter Royal and assistants Bryan Boehrer, Jenise Gibson and Bill Thomas.

“I’m only as good as my assistant coaches. They deserve a lot of the credit,” Birch said. “It was a phenomenal group. They’ve all got jobs to go to, so it’s hard for them to be there at 7 in the morning, but they made a point to be there every day prepared to practice.”

Birch and company led Del Oro (21-2) to the top spot in The Bee’s end-of-year flag football Top 10 after upending previously unbeaten Woodcreek in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championship game Nov. 4 at Cosumnes River College. Del Oro avenged an Aug. 26 loss to the Timberwolves with a 14-12 championship game victory to claim the inaugural D-I blue banner.

“We started 2-2, and that was good for us,” Birch said. “I learned a ton. That first game, we had eight plays total. In the championship game, we had 39 plays.”

Del Oro learned to juggle multi-sport athletes’ responsibilities throughout the season. Birch said his biggest challenge was to not limit his players from other competitions as everyone learned the ropes of a brand new sport.

“We had lacrosse, basketball, softball, just tons of travel, leaving every weekend to play in tournaments,” Birch said. “We tried to be as flexible as possible and work around everyone’s schedule. The girls were busy, but they were still really into football, showing up every day prepared.”

All-Metro First Team

Amaya Grant, Woodcreek, So.

Aleyah Harmon, Christian Brothers, Jr.

Zoey Kothe, Del Campo, Sr.

Skylar Linehan, Rocklin, So.

Livy Maeyama, Rocklin, Jr.

Megan Matthews, Del Oro, Sr.

Ryan Nair, Woodcreek, Jr.

Izzy Scott, Del Oro, Sr.

Bella Von Seipler, Del Oro, Jr.

Avery Wu, Granite Bay, Sr.

All-Metro Second Team

Emily Akhterov, Del Campo, Sr.

Syniah Beverly, Christian Brothers, Sr.

Jade Biittner, Colfax, Sr.

Mikaylah Chimara, Mesa Verde, Sr.

Kylee Flores, Granite Bay, Jr.

Justice Johnson-Patterson, Cordova, Sr.

Amanda Nazworth, Vista del Lago, So.

Sydnie Watkins, Christian Brothers, Sr.

Sophia Wright, Del Campo, Jr.

Caroline Wuelfing, Rocklin, Jr.

All-Metro Third Team

Elizabeth Barger, St. Francis, Sr.

Cali Boehrer, Del Oro, Sr.

Kyla Friedrich, Sacramento Adventist, Fr.

Caitlin Hafenstein, St. Francis, Sr.

Alex Maday, Whitney, Jr.

Emily Morris, Dixon, So.

Robyn Nguyen, Rocklin, So.

Anna Olson, Vista del Lago, Sr.

Delaney Osborne, Del Oro, Jr.

Alyssa Poehlman, Granite Bay, So.

Honorable Mention

Victoria Agnew, Davis, Sr.; Jaiden Alexander, Mesa Verde, Fr.; Lucy Bernino, Casa Roble, Sr.; Caroline Carson, Del Oro, So.; Chloe Champas, Del Oro, So.; Boyeon Choi, Davis, Jr.; Landry Clark, Davis, Fr.; Alisa Clayton, Davis, Sr.; Abbey Crarey, Sacramento Adventist, Jr.; Whitney Cser, Woodcreek, Sr.; Anya DeJong, Davis, Sr.; Gabriella Devlin, Christian Brothers, Fr.; Monay’e Dunn, Center, Sr.; Estrella Duran, Center, Sr.; Aaliyah Ellis, Antelope, Sr.; Gabby Enyart, Del Oro, Sr.; Ava Erickson, Rocklin, So.; Kaylee Fore, Colfax, So.; Marisela Gaeta, Christian Brothers, So.; Natalie Grant, Foresthill, So.; Summer Hennessy, Woodcreek, Fr.; Anna Hernandez-Tapia, Center, Fr.; Peyton Hyde, Del Oro, Jr.; Taliyah Johnson, Cordova, So.; Savannah Jurgens, Del Campo, Jr.; Emma Karamanoukian, St. Francis, Sr.; Kiera La Comb, Folsom, Sr.; Keziah Maldonado-Lemus, Pioneer, Jr.; Maddie Marquez, Foresthill, So.; Juliana Massick, Colfax, So.; Laurlyn Massick, Colfax, Jr.; Lillian McDaniel, Granite Bay, Jr.; Joie McGuire, Mesa Verde, Sr.; Elise Mullican, Rocklin, Jr.; Naomi Navarro, Pioneer, Sr.; Olivia Novi, Christian Brothers, Fr.; Breanna Packheiser, Placer, Sr.; Samantha Pinkham, Del Oro, So.; Samantha Pitzer, Del Oro, Jr.; Shay Ravuiwasa, Placer, Jr.; Maya Reed, Center, Sr.; Gwen Rosich, Sacramento Adventist, So.; Alex Salazar, Whitney, Jr.; Savannah Sanders, Casa Roble, Jr.; Abigail Schrader, Rocklin, Jr.; Sophia Smiley, Colfax, So.; Macie Spoto, Vista del Lago, So.; Morgan Spoto, Vista del Lago, Sr.; Serena Sweet, Placer, Jr.; Natalia Takeuchi, Whitney, Jr.; Emily Taylor, Del Campo, Sr.; Elise Thompson, Davis, Jr.; Mia Worley, Cordova, So.; Symone Yong, Roseville, Jr.

Final Top 10 team rankings

1. Del Oro (21-2)

2. Woodcreek (23-1)

3. Christian Brothers (17-3)

4. Colfax (14-3)

5. Rocklin (16-7)

6. Granite Bay (15-9)

7. Del Campo (16-2)

8. Antelope (11-5)

9. St. Francis (7-11)

10. Vista del Lago (8-5)

This story was originally published November 29, 2023 at 5:00 AM.