ENDICOTT – No matter what took place otherwise, the Baldwinsville girls flag football team of 2024 will always be regarded as pioneers on several fronts.

Just getting on the field was important enough. Then winning on a consistent basis in the regular season and stirring excitement in the community about flag football only added to the impact.

And it culminated last Friday at Henninger High School’s Sunnycrest Field, where the Bees, led as always by a defense that recorded six shutouts during the spring, defeated Syracuse East 19-2 and took home the first-ever Section III Division I championship in the sport.

One more game remained, as it turned out, B’ville making its way to Union-Endicott High School Wednesday night to face Section IV champion Corning in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association regional finals.

Corning would prove too much, the Hawks defeating the Bees 26-0 n a game where an early delay may have played a role in the outcome.

Having taken the field after Oneida, the Division II champions, lost its regional final to Owego 33-0, the Bees were trying to find its rhythm when, with more than 20 minutes left in the first half, both teams had to leave the field to wait out a weather delay.

Once they returned, Corning scored late in the first half, took that 7-0 advantage to halftime and then pulled away with three more touchdowns in the second half, quite a contrast to the 27-26 game it won in the Section IV final over Binghamton on Grace Robertson’s one-yard touchdown on the game’s final play.

The Bees ended its season 10-4, and will see a strong group of seniors – Bri Dzuba, Ella Holtman, Maddy MacCollum, Sadie Phelps, Aubrey Rizzo, Maddie Simons, Gabby Valentine and Ava Wickes – graduate, with the returning players determined, in 2025, to build upon what they have already accomplished.