AUSTIN (KXAN) — They’re fast, furious, and now, national flag football champions.
The Texas Fury, made up of athletes from across the Austin area, marched to the 2025 NFL Flag girls’ high school national championship Sunday at the NFL Hall of Fame Village in Canton, Ohio.
Represented by the Houston Texans, the Fury defeated the Bad Bunnies from Calexico, California, who were represented by the Dallas Cowboys, 19-0 to win the crown. Fury quarterback Emery Beckett, a junior at Lake Travis High School, was named the tournament MVP.
The team is coached by Keenan Hughes, who will helm the inaugural season at Concordia University Texas once it becomes an official varsity sport in 2027. The Tornadoes are the first college in Texas to offer girls flag football as a varsity sport.
The Fury took a 13-0 lead after the first half, scoring touchdowns on their first two drives, and had two goalline stands to keep the Bunnies out of the end zone. Texas added another in the second half to punctuate the championship run. The team lost in the semifinals last season.
Beckett threw a perfect ball to Zahra Hill for the Fury’s first score, feathering a 12-yard pass to Hill in the back corner of the end zone. Hill laid out to haul it in and kept both of her feet in bounds to secure the score. Hill will be a senior at Cedar Ridge in the upcoming school year.
Beckett found Kelsey Quinn for another 12-yard score late in the first half. Quinn, a senior at Leander, is also one of the area’s top basketball players.
Hill caught her second touchdown of the game on a 3-yard pass from Beckett with 5:00 left.
Flag football for both men and women will make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. NFL players will be available to participate in the tournament.