Tampa Bay Buccaneers 5th annual Girls Flag Football Preseason Classic returns to One Buc Place

The event spread out over five days will see 80 teams and over 1,000 athletes will play at One Buc Place

TAMPA, Fla.- For the first time in over three years, the girls high school flag football was back at the home of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

With teams from all around the Sunshine State coming to partake the in fifth annual event, it was the first time since 2020 that the preseason event was back at One Buc Place. The Buccaneers rolled out the red carpet for all the players, hosting a dinner and media day earlier in the week. 

Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Over 80 teams and 1,000-plus players are slated to be taking in the facilities over at the home of the 2-time Super Bowl champion Buccaneers and the feeling couldn't be better for the coaches, players alike. 

“Being associated with the Bucs always makes it a cool thing,” Alonso head coach Matt Hernandez said. “It just brings a different feel about it all. 80 teams this year and the cool thing about it is getting to meet teams you’ve never played before. You’ve got teams from east coast, panhandle and Miami areas coming out to play.” 

Several games took place in the afternoon session of Day 2 at the Advent Health Training Center and practice fields for the Bucs. Below are a few recaps of the games SBLive Sports Florida was able to catch Tuesday afternoon. 

Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Durant 26, Armwood 20 

In arguably one of the most exciting games of the entire day, it would come down to the final few plays in order for the Cougars to defeat the Hawks. 

After going up 26-20 with 23 seconds remaining in the contest, Armwood drove the ball downfield and got inside of the Durant 10-yard line and in scoring position. 

A last gasp pass to the endzone was knocked down, giving Durant the preseason win. Durant's Maggie Lauber scored three total touchdowns in the victory. 

"It was definitely a nervous time," Lauber said. "Especially because its Armwood because we've been losing to them the last couple of years. After that one play I was just like I don't want them to score and I think our defense really locked up on that."

Lennard 27, Crystal River 0

Already notching one shutout victory earlier in the day over Armwood, it was so nice, the Longhorns did it twice. 

The Longhorns continued their winning ways at One Buc Place with a shutout victory over the Pirates. Kyah Vance scored one an interception returned for a touchdown and wide receiver Jocelyn Brush dazzled on a 64-yard scamper for a score. 

Lennard heads into the 2023 season after they graduated six seniors from last year's team. Travis Combs, head coach for Lennard, was pleased with the performance his team had on the afternoon and was equally excited about the Longhorns being back at One Buc Place for the preseason classic. 

"To be back at One Buc is amazing," Combs said. "We were here in 2020. That was my first year here at Lennard. It's just different being here. The Bucs did a great job at the other two locations, but nothing better than being here at One Buc Place. Being a huge Bucs fan, if you could talk to the 12-year old me and say that I would be coaching my own team at the Bucs' facility, I'm getting goosebumps just talking about it."

Plant City 26, Brooksville Central 6 

In what is a rare Hillsborough County versus Hernando County matchup, the 813 got the better of the 352. 

The Raiders got a big game out of wide receiver Avery Parrish, who scored three touchdowns and led Plant City to its second win of the day. The Bears are the only team from Hernando County taking part in the preseason classic. 

Also chipping in the win for the Raiders was defensive back Gabby Ruiz, who scored on an interception return back for a touchdown. Going 2-0 Tuesday for Plant City head coach Stephen Eatman helped create some momentum going into next week's opener. 

"We're just excited to be back out here," Eatman said. "Every year the Bucs put this on, we come out. We feel like it's a great thing the Bucs want to do and the NFL promotes it for the ladies. We take this all as a growing experience. We bring as many girls as we can. All of them get to participate and get to experience this."

Day 1 scores (Tuesday)

Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Steinbrenner 39, Hollins 0 

Pinellas Park 7, Leto 0

Tampa Freedom 29, Countryside 20 

Robinson 32, Wharton 0 

Robinson 46, Seminole 0

Sickles 42, Hollins 0

Carrollwood Day 18, Countryside 7 

Steinbrenner 19, Newsome 6 

Newsome 26, Wharton 6

Sickles 31, Seminole 7 

Carrollwood Day 12, Leto 0

Pinellas Park 20, Tampa Freedom 14

Day 2 scores (Wednesday)

Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Lennard 19, Armwood 0 

Plant City 28, Jefferson 0

Brooksville Central 0, Auburndale 0 

Celebration 14, Sumner 0 

Pirate Bay 26, Pasco-Hernando 7

Celebration 31, Jefferson 0

Tampa Catholic 19, Crystal River 12 

Durant 42, Auburndale 0

Plant City 26, Brooksville Central 6 

Lennard 27, Crystal River 0 

Palm Harbor University 25, Sumner 0 

Durant 26, Armwood 20 

Andy Villamarzo can be reached at andyvillamarzo@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @Andy_Villamarzo.