Lara Brennan Among First in the Area to Play Collegiate Flag Football

Lara Brennan has become a pioneer and ambassador for flag football.

At Middletown High School South, Brennan and some of her soccer and basketball teammates were trailblazers for the sport when the school introduced girls’ flag football for the first time in the spring of 2021.

“It was something to do in the spring and be coached by coach [Steve] Antonucci, who really cared about it,” said Brennan. “We did it. It was fun and exciting to be a part of something new. I liked the sport.”

But that was not it for Brennan. Jump ahead to this last summer and her freshman year at the University of Florida. She learned that the university had open tryouts for its flag football team, and Brennan decided, against the odds, to give it a go as a walk-on.

“I was not ready to let go of sports,” she said of her reason for trying out. “I did it for fun.”

The odds of making the team, she noted, weren’t that good. While flag football is growing in New Jersey, it is new to the Shore Conference and well-established in the South, especially Florida.

“They’re very passionate about it,” said the Middletown South grad. “It’s huge in Florida. It was a little nerve wracking trying out. The girls had way more experience than me. They’ve been playing it for a while.”

However, experience isn’t everything.

“Athletically I felt I could compete,” she pointed out. “I had the speed and agility it takes.”

Brennan made the Gators’ 20-player travel team which competes in tournaments and won the club national championship. Brennan plays inside receiver and corner back for the Gators – positions well-suited to her talents.

The former Eagle noted that parts of soccer and basketball have helped her on the gridiron. Both sports required speed and explosiveness when making cuts. Basketball helped the most on defense.

“Zone and man-to-man defense is all that basketball is,” Brennan remarked. “Having that knowledge is a big help.”

It didn’t hurt her chances for making the team as a walk-on playing for a legendary coach like the Eagles’ Antonucci. She noted that more than 80 percent of the plays and schemes used by the Gators were similar to what she had done at Middletown South.

“We would run routes that were definitely familiar to me,” she said.

There are some differences between college flag football and what is played in high school.

“They play on the full football field, not half,” Brennan explained. “They punt, they blitz, and interceptions can be returned.”

What impressed Brennan was the commitment of the players and the university to the sport.

“They are passionate about the program. They care about winning,” she explained. “It’s very competitive.”

Now that she is playing flag football in college, Brennan is again blazing a trail for others to follow. There is a future in flag football beyond high school, and her former South teammates now know that. Brennan has become ambassador by posting on Instagram and Facebook, advertising the sport by letting high school players know that they can play it in college.

Meanwhile, Brennan can’t wait to join her Florida teammates for another season in the fall.