Cobbers Relishing Year 2

Article reprinted with permission from the Fargo Forum and feature writer Eric Peterson  

MOORHEAD — Emily Larsen and Darby Hannan were among the trailblazers who played for the Concordia Cobbers inaugural women's flag football team last spring, partnering with the Minnesota Vikings in a collegiate Midwest league.

They both wanted to be part of Year 2.

Larsen is again playing for the Cobbers, while Hannan is coaching the team this spring along with Collin Thompson, who is a former defensive standout for the Concordia men's football program and was an assistant coach this past fall.

"I still wanted to be involved," said Hannan, who played for the Cobbers the previous spring. "The unique experience of it. It's just such a cool thing to be a part of — being a part of the movement towards more women's sports is really cool."

The Cobbers went 2-1 last Saturday in a jamboree played at St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota. They earned wins against Bethel and Wisconsin-Stout and lost 13-6 against St. Ben's. Another jamboree is scheduled for Saturday, April 18, at the University of Northwestern in St. Paul. The championship tournament is slated for Saturday, April 25, at the Vikings' TCO Stadium in Eagan.

"The culture that we have on our team it's so much fun," said Larsen, a former Cobbers women's soccer player.

Ashlyn Thompson, Collin's younger sister, is again the team's starting quarterback. Collin said last spring he assisted head coach Breanna Nelson a little bit during the inaugural season. Nelson is now an assistant women's soccer coach at St. Scholastica. That cleared the way for Hannan and Collin to help guide the program.

"Football is great because I'm coaching guys (during the fall) who've been playing since they were kids in elementary school," said Collin, who played defensive end for the Cobbers during his playing days. "With flag (football), I have people who have been around football before, but never played it before."

With three older brothers, Collin said Ashlyn has been around football since she was a toddler.

"She grew up with three brothers and we taught her to throw a football as soon as she was able to," Collin said.

Ashlyn, Bailey Quern, Emma Sheflo, Makaela Zierden, Larsen, Ella Thorvilson and Ava Sylvester are among the players who also played the previous spring. A little more than half the roster comprised of newcomers. The games are played with a 5-on-5 format.

Last year was a huge base for a lot of these girls," Collin said. "We kind of have a great balance of all levels of experience and they really feed off each other."

Hannan said Collin has been a great resource with his broad football acumen.

"His perspective has been awesome," Hannan said. "The pure football knowledge he has is incredible."

The Cobbers finished third at the championship tournament last spring. They are nine times in the league this spring, two more than last season.

"It's exciting to be a part of it and see it continue to be something bigger," Larsen said. "It helps having played last year. We kind of know what it looks like. ... We want to win this year because we were a little upset about being third last year."

The Vikings contributed around $140,000 last spring to help support the upstart league. Flag football was recently added to the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program, which started in 1994.

"It is very fast-growing sport," said Concordia athletic director Rachel Bergeson, who added the Vikings also provided additional funding for each institution in the second season of the collegiate league. "It's a sport you can have quite a few participants. It's been really fun for Concordia because we had some success last year."

Flag football is being added as an Olympic Sport for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

"It's been amazing," Hannan said. "It's a really cool stage to be in the development stage."