After not winning a game in their inaugural season last year, the Warren Woods Tower girls flag football team finished off an unbeaten one with their 19-9 victory over South Lake on Saturday morning.

“Last year, I feel like it was just new to everybody,” said Trinity Anderson, a four-sport athlete at Woods Tower.

“So like we didn’t really know what we were doing. But as we progressed to the next season, it’s like, we just grew more together. You know, we started taking practices more seriously, and, like, actually wanted to win.”

The Titans and Cavaliers are both part of the “All Fight League,” one of the nine girls flag football leagues sponsored by the Detroit Lions aimed at bringing the game to young girls.

Along with WWT and South Lake, the league also features Macomb County schools Fitzgerald and L’Anse Creuse North plus Harper Woods and a Rochester Community Schools team.

The Titans entered Saturday at 2-0 with a chance to secure first place in the league, with South Lake at 1-1.

South Lake struck first when, after a big play by Rylee Mott, Christina Gibson hit Dania McClain for a touchdown with a converted extra point.

And though Tower didn’t score on their first possession, an interception by Karli South gave the Titans premier field position which they cashed in on by handing the ball to Makaela Blair on a reverse for a score.

The score stood at 7-6 at halftime, but on the first play out of the break, Anderson ran all the way for a touchdown, her first of two she’d score in the second half.

South Lake’s Gibson intercepted the extra point attempt and returned it for two points to bring the tally to an unusual 12-9.

Anderson’s second touchdown was also a run, showing off the blazing speed and athleticism that allows her to star in volleyball, basketball and track at Woods Tower.

“I’m thinking it’s just like, I had to, like, turn your hips, because I can’t get caught,” Anderson said. “And it’s like, I just, I know I’m fast, and I like, in my mind, I’m determined to win. So I had to get down there.”

She was one of a handful of returners for the Titans from last season under head coach Adam Dias, who is also the boys varsity football coach at Warren Woods Tower.

To help prepare them better, he brought in more coaches — boys varsity coaches Noah Halleck and Kwame Williams along with former flag player Chelsea Richter — which allowed them to do more during their limited practice time.

“They’ve gotten to understand the game better,” Dias said. “I mean, we work on a lot of pulling flags, like technique and like how you cover. … And that’s been the blessing, is having more people, coaches out there doing things. Like, we could split the team apart and practice like, ‘Hey, you’re working on defense over there, you’re working on offense and switch.’”

Participation has largely been player-driven, Dias said, as players have actively recruited their friends and teammates from other sports to get in on the action.

Anderson said that, for girls who are interested in coming out, they should be ready to get rough.

“I’d say you have mentally prepared, especially if you play other sports because this, like, yes, it’s supposed to be a non-contact sport but there’s definitely contact and there’s times you can get hurt, so you definitely have to be mentally, emotionally prepared.”

South Lake, who finished 1-2, was led by former Lakeview football standout Ahmad Goode. Their team is also loaded with multi-sport athletes, including Gibson, Mott and McClain, who all starred for the Cavaliers’ basketball team the past few seasons.

McClain, a Robert Morris basketball signee, made several highlight reel catches. Gibson’s robbed extra point kept them in the game, and Mott was a go-to playmaker.